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tamingthemuseTitle: Used To Be Us
Author: Zippit
Fandom: NASCAR
Series: N/A
Character(s): Martin Truex Jr, Dale Earnhardt Jr; Martin POV
Prompt: #78 - Emancipation (7.23)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 636
Written For:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
tamingthemuse
Completed: January 19, 2008
Disclaimer: Not real; don't know them, don't claim to know them. Only the makings of my imagination.
Author’s Note: I swore I'd never write him in a good light again after all the crap I was put through, but that's just not in the cards.
Summary: It was a good chapter of his life, an altogether too short chapter, but a good one.
Used To Be Us
The sounds around the shop aren't the same. The general noisemakers are gone. Junior took them with him when he went. It's quieter, it's not as vibrant. There's still plenty of people, but Junior always brought that extra zest of life with him.
It's not that he really misses him. It's the absence of what they used to be he misses. Best friends amid the general chaos of the Busch and Cup series. Now they don't even talk. They put on the show for the fans, talking about hunting and hanging out. It never goes farther.
Junior goes hunting, learns the ropes and all, just not from him. He would've two years ago if they hadn't had so much shit to deal with. 2004 was the year of everything. Busch Championship, Daytona 500 win, sponsors clamoring for them both. There was no time.
No time for them. No time for fun. No time. But it was fun. They had each other to fill in the gaps they did have, busting each other and hanging out between the myriad of practices and sponsors. It was good.
Good until the hell of 2005 descended on them. His second Championship was practically out of his reach all year long. Stupid string of bad luck plagued them until he ended up riding the wall at Richmond on his side. Asking Junior off the pitbox two months into the season probably wasn't such a good idea and joking that it was because he was a jinx was even stupider. Not like having him on it was any better.
Then Junior's year was just plain hell. Nothing worked. The crew switch sucked and everything fell apart around him. He tried to help, poured himself into their Busch team when they let him. He thinks that pissed Junior off the most, being denied the one thing he could've still found enjoyable about the whole race weekend.
He still won his second Busch Championship in the end, but everything was a little forced at that celebration. Things just weren't the same. He'd started dating Sherry a few months before and Josh had quit the team soon after with not even two months left in the season. Then the banquet and Junior sat himself down in the audience rather than at the owner's table where he belonged.
So he shouldn't have decked Junior when all he was trying to do was be a friend and tell him what he honestly thought. But damnit, you don't tell a friend that his girl is nothing more than a gold digger. And look, he's still with her now while Junior's off at HMS and jetting off to Australia.
He doesn't know what changed in them to change their friendship. It all sorta went downhill from 2005. His rookie year was shit and Junior was there to help as best he could, but nothing clicked till the season was just about over.
They never did get back to what they had in 2004. Too much was said, too much was done. Their friendship was never the same and they couldn't put it back even if they wanted to. It was a good chapter of his life, an altogether too short chapter, but a good one.
You never know, they could still find a way to rekindle their friendship now that Junior's off at Hendrick. He turns the light off in his new office and walks through the unfamiliar shop, pausing to trail his hand over one of the new Army 8 cars. It's not right seeing the #8 in anything but Budweiser red.
All around everyone's getting fresh starts, he guesses he should stop thinking about the past, but it's hard when the year's coming to a close and all that's left are the memories of years gone by.
Author: Zippit
Fandom: NASCAR
Series: N/A
Character(s): Martin Truex Jr, Dale Earnhardt Jr; Martin POV
Prompt: #78 - Emancipation (7.23)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 636
Written For:
tamingthemuseCompleted: January 19, 2008
Disclaimer: Not real; don't know them, don't claim to know them. Only the makings of my imagination.
Author’s Note: I swore I'd never write him in a good light again after all the crap I was put through, but that's just not in the cards.
Summary: It was a good chapter of his life, an altogether too short chapter, but a good one.
Used To Be Us
The sounds around the shop aren't the same. The general noisemakers are gone. Junior took them with him when he went. It's quieter, it's not as vibrant. There's still plenty of people, but Junior always brought that extra zest of life with him.
It's not that he really misses him. It's the absence of what they used to be he misses. Best friends amid the general chaos of the Busch and Cup series. Now they don't even talk. They put on the show for the fans, talking about hunting and hanging out. It never goes farther.
Junior goes hunting, learns the ropes and all, just not from him. He would've two years ago if they hadn't had so much shit to deal with. 2004 was the year of everything. Busch Championship, Daytona 500 win, sponsors clamoring for them both. There was no time.
No time for them. No time for fun. No time. But it was fun. They had each other to fill in the gaps they did have, busting each other and hanging out between the myriad of practices and sponsors. It was good.
Good until the hell of 2005 descended on them. His second Championship was practically out of his reach all year long. Stupid string of bad luck plagued them until he ended up riding the wall at Richmond on his side. Asking Junior off the pitbox two months into the season probably wasn't such a good idea and joking that it was because he was a jinx was even stupider. Not like having him on it was any better.
Then Junior's year was just plain hell. Nothing worked. The crew switch sucked and everything fell apart around him. He tried to help, poured himself into their Busch team when they let him. He thinks that pissed Junior off the most, being denied the one thing he could've still found enjoyable about the whole race weekend.
He still won his second Busch Championship in the end, but everything was a little forced at that celebration. Things just weren't the same. He'd started dating Sherry a few months before and Josh had quit the team soon after with not even two months left in the season. Then the banquet and Junior sat himself down in the audience rather than at the owner's table where he belonged.
So he shouldn't have decked Junior when all he was trying to do was be a friend and tell him what he honestly thought. But damnit, you don't tell a friend that his girl is nothing more than a gold digger. And look, he's still with her now while Junior's off at HMS and jetting off to Australia.
He doesn't know what changed in them to change their friendship. It all sorta went downhill from 2005. His rookie year was shit and Junior was there to help as best he could, but nothing clicked till the season was just about over.
They never did get back to what they had in 2004. Too much was said, too much was done. Their friendship was never the same and they couldn't put it back even if they wanted to. It was a good chapter of his life, an altogether too short chapter, but a good one.
You never know, they could still find a way to rekindle their friendship now that Junior's off at Hendrick. He turns the light off in his new office and walks through the unfamiliar shop, pausing to trail his hand over one of the new Army 8 cars. It's not right seeing the #8 in anything but Budweiser red.
All around everyone's getting fresh starts, he guesses he should stop thinking about the past, but it's hard when the year's coming to a close and all that's left are the memories of years gone by.
