Archive of Our Own ^beta

The Americana Diner

Shrewsbury, New Jersey

Anthony’s POV:

According to Anthony, there’s not much in life that beats the deliciousness of a crispy chicken sandwich at a traditional New Jersey diner.  Scratch that.  According to Frank, his beloved husband, New Jersey diners hit different.

Especially with the company of his good pals–Frank and CC, to be precise. Who could be better company than his spouse and their officiant?

As he bites into the cheap, juicy, greasy goodness that emulates the essence of ghetto gas station food, he smiles.

What a damn good idea it was to come here.

And Anthony feels a sense of pride because it was his idea in the first place.  He figured that since he has gotten to know CC better ever since the wedding that the three of them could spend some quality time together.  Even though he can admit that CC is quite the eccentric man, he still thinks he’s pretty cool and isn’t opposed to chilling with him.

He’ll never forget the day of the wedding.  What a time that was, and for good reason.  Anthony is convinced that his and Frank’s ceremony will go down in history as one of the most oddball, untraditional, spontaneous ones ever performed.  He still can’t fully believe that Frank chose CC, of all people on Planet Earth, to be the pastor.  He also thinks it’s hilarious that it was CC himself who screamed into Anthony’s microphone way back when…He never realized that he and CC already knew one another.

Through Frank.

And now that he comes to think of it, he isn’t completely sure he ever found out how CC and Frank know each other in the first place.

All he remembers is Frank saying something along the lines of the two going way back, but other than that he knows absolutely nothing.

He won’t lie.

He’s just a tad bit curious.

He leaves his thoughts to himself, though, and instead continues basking in the deliciousness of his chicken sandwich.

Besides his own ecstatic chews, and the casual chatter amongst the restaurant customers, CC’s loud scratchy voice echoes throughout the joint.

“So!  Whaddaya think?!  Ya ain’t tellin’ me ya don’t have stories about some stupid things you’ve done!” 

The crazy guitarist widens his eyes with enthusiasm, earning an eye roll from Frank; a pretty typical reaction that Anthony has seen one too many times while in the presence of CC himself.

There is a brief moment of silence between the three musicians as Anthony ponders CC’s remark.  And all of a sudden, his brain becomes flooded with memories of the past, all which revolve around idiotic, odd things he’s done.  For just a second, he feels unsure of which to share with the table, since he has so many, but that conflict is quickly put aside once he remembers what he posted on his Instagram story not too long ago.

It’s at this moment, when a real good story immediately comes to Anthony’s mind.  

He laughs to himself as he re-reads his own post in his mind.

“Me putting my first dog in the sink like a weirdo…18 years ago.”

The caption was nothing short of genius and he’ll forever feel a sense of accomplishment for sharing such an elaborate, intimate, depraved piece of his life with the rest of his fanbase.  The picture was brilliant too; the expression on his face was enough to elicit a helluva good reaction.

As he reminisces over the satisfaction brought on by his own actions, Anthony concludes that his Instagram story was the best thing since sliced bread; cheap, white, gas station wonder bread , that is.  

Nothing beats the artificial processed shit, is what he tells himself as he takes another huge bite of his juicy, greasy bundle of chicken goodness while simultaneously debating on whether or not he should blurt out that story.

Once again, the decision only takes a millisecond to solidify into Anthony’s mind.  And now he just knows this is the one.

He can’t change gears from this one.

So, with childlike exhilaration zapping through his body, he puts his sandwich down and smirks to himself, replaying the memories on a reel over and over, while shifting his gaze to CC who is clearly waiting for someone to enlighten his inquiry.

Well, he’s about to get quite the answer, Anthony thinks and without further ado, he gets the ball rolling.

“Ooh!” he pipes up with a wide smile and bright eyes, “I have a story!”

It only takes CC half a second to practically jump out of his seat with the vitality of the energizer bunny, and Anthony knows for sure that what he’s about to share will definitely deliver.

“Well whaddaya waitin’ for?!” the loudmouth guitarist squawks with his eyes locked on Anthony’s, “ please tell!!!”

His voice reverberates through the entire restaurant, and Anthony could swear that he feels his chair shaking from the intensity of the screeches.  Paying it no mind, he decides to go forward.

With nothing but excitement swimming through his veins, Anthony says, "One time I put my first dog in the sink for no reason!"

There is a brief moment of silence as CC stares dumbfounded at Anthony’s remark, skepticism written all over every single one of his facial features, and that only brings Anthony’s delight up a level.  

The more anticipation, the better. 

The Brooklyn shredder raises an eyebrow, with his eyes still locked on Anthony’s, obviously confused, “Eh?!”

Frank, on the other hand, immediately lets out a girly snicker; one that Anthony loves so much.  To him, it is music to his ears.  And paired with the stupid smile Frank is giving him, Anthony can’t help but feel giddy inside.

He knows he must be blushing now.

“Yeah,” Anthony proceeds to say with a shoulder shrug as his lips curl into a small smirk, “It was a time.”

CC continues staring at the singer with an overtly puzzled expression, and Anthony figures that either he can’t process why someone would put their dog in the sink for no apparent reason or he was expecting something a lot more elaborate.

Knowing CC and his colorful personality, Anthony can’t say he’d be surprised if that was the case.

After a brief few seconds of silence, CC speaks again, this time with his jaw agape and head tilted in bewilderment.

“That’s all ya got?”

And that’s all Anthony needs to hear to conclude that he was right.

He shrugs his shoulders, again, with a smile, keeping his voice as casual and contained as possible, “First thing that came to mind, man!”

The nonchalant attitude he’s donning seems to baffle CC more and more with every moment that passes and Anthony finds it pretty amusing.  Frank, however, doesn’t seem too focused on CC’s reactions, and Anthony would be lying if he said he isn’t a little surprised about that.  

Instead of eye rolling at the blonde shredder, Frank is staring right into Anthony’s eyes with a look of suspicion.

“I don’t think I can let you around my dogs again,” his partner murmurs dryly, “You might drown ‘em.”

And Anthony is just about to conjure up a good response to that, but before he can even think about opening his mouth…

“Weeeee whooooo!!!!!”

Any train of thought that his mind was about to latch onto is completely halted by sirens.   No, not real sirens.

CC sirens.

Noises made by the man himself.

Without even looking at his husband, he knows Frank must feel about a second away from wanting to duct tape the guy’s mouth shut.  Anthony knows how to stay chill most of the time, if being on stage is negated.  Then, he has no chill.

But for right now, he’s pretty chill, even if the guitarist from Poison is screeching louder than a hyena in the middle of the bushes.

Anthony finds it funny, only because he knows he caused such a reaction.  Or better yet, his story did.  He truly didn’t know that putting a dog in a sink would elicit such a dramatic outcome, but alas.  He does now.

While CC’s outburst continues, it’s clear to Anthony that the rest of the restaurant is nothing less than perplexed over the fiasco.  He thinks it’s safe to say that everyone around him is taken aback just as much as he is by the reaction, but maybe for different reasons.

Because it’s highly unlikely that everyone knows this was brought on by the simple action of placing a former pet in the kitchen sink.

That would just be silly.

“It was a simple impulse move, ok?” Is all that Anthony says in response to the chaos around him, and he will forever stand his ground on the topic.

There is slightly awkward silence after that.

~*~

The next few moments pass by rather quietly, but Anthony doesn't mind. It gives him some space to focus on his tender, juicy chicken sandwich, in fact.  And the singer will do just about anything to cherish the mere deliciousness of such a delicacy. 

He finds his peace disrupted, though, as he begins to notice CC's lack of actually eating any of his food at all. He's pushing it around his plate, but none of it is actually finding its way into his mouth–which is rather perplexing to Anthony.

The salad alone would be enough to confuse the guy--if he's spending this much money on a meal, it's sure as fuck not going to be a salad –but the weird rituals on top of choosing such a boring meal really tops it off.

The bewilderness increases with every passing moment and eventually, Anthony can’t hold in his curiosity anymore.  With a raised brow, he eyes the blonde guitarist before addressing him with sincere perplexity.

“What are you doing, my dude?”

From next to him, he notices Frank sitting back in his chair also observing CC’s odd behaviors but he isn’t saying anything about it.

Neither is CC, who just continues playing with his organic bowl of greens, and that shocks Anthony even more; the blonde being silent is a rarity, at least that’s what Frank has told him.

Desperate for answers, Anthony turns his head towards his husband and furrows a brow at him, trying to make his confusion clear.

To make things even more puzzling, the singer is met with Frank only side-eyeing CC with yet again, no response.

And the silence continues… again.  But this time, Anthony does mind it.

Luckily the quietude only lasts about a minute, but when it’s broken, it’s broken only by the jarring screeches from CC.  And as much as Anthony wanted a response from him, this is not the kind of response he was looking for.

“Whaddaya so quiet about?!?!?!” the blonde exclaims with wide eyes as he takes his fork to jab a tomato into, “LET’S SPICE THINGS UP!!!”

And that tomato missing CC’s mouth does not slip Anthony’s mind.

“So what have ya been up to these days?!” CC asks, while eyeing Anthony with a broad toothy smile, “Anything exciting?! ”

Anthony, staring right back, replies with a drawn out, “Yeahhhh uh, you know…writing…”

The singer turns to Frank, who is also staring, but a lot more aggressively.  And Anthony just wants Frank to help him out a little but he’s just making this conversation even more confusing by not saying anything.

Until CC drops a bomb of a sentence, that is; one that makes Anthony really desperate for clarification.

“Hope these greens don’t get stuck in my pearly whites, ya know?!” the blonde blurts out of nowhere, clearly uncomfortable with the silence, while still refusing to put any of his food to his lips.

Frank seems to be having the same observation as Anthony, as he replies with a dry, “You’d actually have to put the food in your mouth for that to happen.”

Anthony isn't sure if that exchange makes him less or more confused, but it sure as hell makes him more uncomfortable.

All that follows is a squeaky titter from CC paired with a psychotic smile, and as Frank glares at him, he sighs.

“Ah, c’mon kid,” CC blabbers as he stares at Frank, words pouring out of his mouth a mile a minute, “Ya know me.  I do a lil’ of this and a lil’ of that.  And then ya know it takes me a while but ya know my body ain’t gettin’ deprived of this organic goodness!”

And as the words pour out of the blonde’s mouth faster than the speed of light, Anthony awkwardly picks up his chicken sandwich and takes a real bite, and it’s as if the simple action of consuming food makes CC’s jitters intensify…if that’s at all possible.

At a loss for words, the only question Anthony can articulate is a simple, “Why the organic?”

Anthony takes note of Frank rolling his eyes, but he's not entirely sure if it's at CC's ramble or at his own innocent question.

“Why not organic, Anthony?!” CC blurts out as his eyes bug out, and he drops his fork in shock before flailing his arms around in exasperation.

Anthony nods patiently, authentically interested in CC's argument about organic foods. On the other hand, he's going to make his own preferences clear. "Because, money?" he explains. "And because I like gas station pizza, so… You?"

It doesn’t take a second for CC to snap his head around to Frank again, this time pointing to him dramatically.

“This guy right here knows my stance on my food choices very well, don’t ya kid?!?!?”

Frank’s eyes narrow while he deadpans, “I know your issues unfortunately well, yes.”

“Ha!  Issues!” CC squawks through a cackle as he claps his hands together, “I got loads of ‘em but this ain’t one of ‘em!”

His voice echoes throughout the entire restaurant and all Anthony can do is smile politely at the debacle but in reality, he’s never felt this awkward in his life.

“You’re awfully defensive for someone without a problem,” Frank mutters sarcastically, only making Anthony’s discomfort stronger.

“I defend what’s important to me, Frank!” is what CC rebuttals with, along with a determined slap on his chest, “Ya gotta be passionate about what ya believe in!!!!”

Anthony is getting the distinct sense that there's some hidden history here–something that's clearly bubbled up from under the surface–but he can't get a good guess at what it is. So he just listens.

“No one should believe anything this hard about food,” Frank dryly states with an eye roll, “You eat it.”

CC immediately snaps back with, “Yeah, and that’s exactly why ya gotta be attentive with it!!!”

“It shouldn’t be, like, a seven-hour ordeal every day,” Frank responds, “I think enough kale might rot your brain.”

Anthony can't suppress a grimace at that–he hates kale.

He's really just trying to enjoy his chicken sandwich–and truly, it's a great chicken sandwich–and this multi-layered argument is unfolding right in front of his beautiful meal.

“Seven-hour ordeal?!?!” CC screeches and throws his arms to the ceiling, “Kid!  It only takes me a hot minute to choose what I eat!” He shakes his head, exasperated, “And all the blow and booze already rotted my brain!  Kale ain’t gonna do it!”

Frank, clearly unwilling to entertain any of CC's justifications, flatly responds, "how long does it take you to eat it? It's like talking to a lemon water-fueled wall with you."

“HEY!” the blonde squeaks in an insanely high octave as he takes a glug of his own lemon water before slamming the glass on the table, defiantly, “At least I’m doin’ something good for me now!  Would ya rather I be snortin’ blow offa someone’s dick, Frank?!?!”

"Cinderblock wall," Frank sibilates, "I swear to god."

Anthony, jumping on the opportunity to change this horrifically awkward conversation to focus on any other topic at all, blows off Frank and says, "Yeah, the Circa Survive parties were like that in the early days, too!"

It only takes a millisecond for CC’s eyes to bulge out of his skull at Anthony’s remark.

“Ya were a junkie too?!?!”

The mere excitement pouring out of the blonde’s mouth paired with the direct nature of the question catches Anthony off guard.  And he freezes up for a good fifteen seconds as he tries to formulate a response before settling on, “Yeah it got BAD there. Clean now, though!"

Satisfied, he takes the final bite of his chicken sandwich, but suddenly feels someone grabbing his hand and realizes it’s CC.

“Good for you, buddy!” the Brooklyn-born praises as he squeezes Anthony’s hand tight with a heartwarming smile but his tone soon turns serious, “Jokes aside, ya don’t wanna go back to that place, ya don't wanna… Trust me, buddy, ya don't wanna go there.”

“Never again!” Anthony shakes his head, genuinely grateful for validation from someone who understands, “You either!”

CC responds in a heartbeat, while releasing Anthony’s hand from his grip, “I’m crazy enough without the drugs!  I don’t need anything else to make it worse!” He shakes his head.  “Seriously.  It’s worth it.  Ya actually learn how to be a real human being without your ego takin’ over.  And ya don’t end up puttin’ lampshades on your head screamin’ come and kiss daddy while tryin’ to turn some random fucka on—“

Anthony can't help himself from bursting into laughter. "You did that?" he asks, looking at CC with wide eyes, intent on getting an answer.

“I did!” CC blurts out with a head nod and loud cackle, “And there’s more where that came from!  Let's not forget the day Bret kicked my ass off the tour bus ‘cause I was fightin' with everyone on there and then got stranded in the middle of nowhere!” He throws his hands up as his voice heightens, “To this day I still don't know how I got back!!!”

~*~

After exchanging a few more bullshit stories in the middle of a bustling diner, it’s safe to say Anthony has not laughed this hard in a long time. 

The singer, now feeling a growing closeness with the wild blonde guitarist, decides to entrust CC with a piece of information. He leans in close and whispers in CC's ear. "Can I tell you a secret?" he asks, and then shares, "I kinda wanna devour Frank like a Wagyu beef burger."

CC doesn’t waste a second before blabbering the juicy news to the entire restaurant, at least that’s how Anthony sees it considering how loud the blonde’s voice is. 

“Did ya hear that, kid?!”  He stares directly at Frank with wide buggy eyes, “Your lover ova’ here just told me he wants to eat ya up like a friggin’ juicy wagyu beef burger!!!!  How about that, kid?!  He thinks you’re friggin’ decadent!!!!”

Frank raises eyebrows at Anthony. Tone curious, he asks, "You said that? Wagyu beef?"

And Anthony can’t even answer because CC beats him to it.

“Oh he sure did, Frankie boy!”

Anthony snickers happily in his seat beside Cecil, satisfied that his true feelings are out in the open now.

Frank pauses, considering. "Uh. I mean. Funny since I'm vegetarian, but…" he trails off with a dopey smile.

And CC doesn’t let Frank say anything else and Anthony isn’t surprised in the slightest when the blonde begins blabbering nonsensically, yet again.

“Frank!  Listen to me, kid!” he screams, while pointing to Anthony, “This fucka right here, he’s your whore, Frank!  Anthony is YOUR WHORE!!!!”

Frank remarks, "that doesn't change that I'm vegetarian, but…" He glances at Anthony, nodding quickly, and says, "Yeah, he's my whore."

Anthony, for his part, nods and smiles proudly. "That's my sweet Francis," he says fondly.