DISCO NIGHTS !
CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
SO COMPETITIVE

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MAEVE AND DELANEY sent each other small waves from their respective positions sitting in the barn for the town meeting, the girls both grinning at each other as they slumped back in their seats soon after.

Marjorie, Maeve, Luke and Jess—in that order—, were sitting in the same row, and whenever Marjorie needed to whisper to Luke or vice versa, they'd lean back to talk to each other behind Maeve. Whenever Maeve and Jess needed to talk to each other, they'd lean forward.

It was foolproof, according to Marjorie, which, when she enthusiastically explained it, made the rest of the group smile. The woman was a ray of sunshine.

"I think Taylor might actually say something important now." Marjorie whispered to her granddaughter jokingly.

Maeve's eyebrows quirked upwards as she turned to face Marjorie. "Wanna make a bet?"

Marjorie just huffed out a little chuckle in amusement at the words.

"It seems like the right thing to do, Taylor." Patty's voice pulled their attention back towards the front.

"I concur," Taylor hummed enthusiastically, the man casting his eyes between each of Stars Hollow's uninterested, exhausted citizens. "When one gazes at Stars Hollow, one can easily overlook a vital component of its beauty, and that's the humble, yet spunky, twinkle light."

"Holy cow." Jess drew out in a disbelieving murmur from his seat beside his uncle.

Luke unenthusiastically raised his eyebrows at the words in agreement as he muttered back his own statement. "It doesn't get fruitier."

Jess' lips formed a straight line as he slowly nodded, the boy trying not to laugh.

"That's a lie, it definitely does." Maeve chimed in quietly from her seat beside Luke, earning herself amused reactions from the rest of the group, Marjorie rolling her lips inwards to prevent herself from laughing, Luke slightly tilting his head and pursing his lips in agreement, and a small smirk overtaking Jess' features when he unnoticeably leaned his head forward to watch the girl conceal her own smile as she kept her gaze locked on the front.

"Harry's House of Twinkle Lights has been an integral part of this town for twenty years, so it's only right that we honour his retirement," As Taylor continued his string of overly enthusiastic words, Jess lowered his head momentarily in utter boredom, then raised it after a few seconds, the boy letting out a deep sigh as he did so. "So, I hereby designate next Tuesday, 'Harry the twinkle light man from Harry's House of Twinkle Lights day'."

Banging the gavel on the podium and signifying the conclusion of this current debate, Taylor grinned widely, a portion of the citizens clapping in relief.

"Well, that just trips off the tongue." Jess sardonically stated, looking towards his uncle, who just slowly nodded in utter disbelief. It was comical, how eccentric the town was, at this point.

"You can't make this stuff up." Maeve blew out a breath as she glanced at Jess, who met her gaze with a humoured, tight-lipped smirk.

"Well, I, for one, am glad that we got that issue settled right away." Marjorie chimed in with a joke of her own, causing Luke to huff out an amused breath.

"Late again, are we?" Taylor then loudly voiced from his position, causing some of the townspeople to cast their eyes towards the barn doors.

At the sight of Lorelai and Rory, Maeve shifted her eyes away, while Jess kept his focused on Rory, in particular.

"Yes, I hope I'm not pregnant." Lorelai quipped with faux-trepidation, eliciting scattered laughter from the crowd.

"What?" Taylor almost completely froze.

"Are these seats taken?" Lorelai inquired as both her and Rory approached the seats behind Luke and Jess.

"Don't drag me into this." Luke blew out a sarcastic breath as Lorelai sat behind Jess, Rory sitting behind Luke, Jess making eye contact with Rory as he turned his head to watch her sit down.

"You really have to work on your punctuality, Lorelai, I banged the meeting in a half an hour ago." Taylor scolded Lorelai, bringing her attention to the front.

Lorelai gasped at the words, the woman narrowing her eyes at him. "Dirty."

Taylor widened his eyes out of discomfort as he decided to swiftly move on before Lorelai could make the conversation worse. "I'm gonna take advantage of this, uh, unexpected pause in our proceedings to confer with Miss Patty about the next item on our agenda."

"What did we miss?" Lorelai intently glanced between Luke and Marjorie.

"Harry's retiring." Luke informed the girls.

"The twinkle light man?" Rory chirped up in surprise.

"Hey, the good news is that next Tuesday is now 'Harry the twinkle light man from Harry's House of Twinkle Lights day'." Maeve briefly turned around to face the Gilmore's.

"Catchy," Lorelai hummed. "What do we do for twinkle lights?"

"Go to any discount store." Luke stared at Lorelai, and he, for once, couldn't tell if she was being serious or not.

"Blasphemy." Lorelai deadpanned.

"What are you doing here, anyhow? This is a town meeting for people who participate in, and care about, the town." Rory suddenly curtly interjected, firm glare set on Jess, who now lifted his eyes towards Rory again.

While Luke and Lorelai intently glanced at Jess for an answer, Marjorie and Maeve shared apathetic looks, the pair disinterested in this particular conversation topic.

"Well, 'Corky's Country Cavalcade' on public access was preempted, so I thought I'd check out the next best thing." Jess quipped in response, and as Rory turned away, he kept his unreadable gaze heavily locked on her, small smirk adorning his lips.

"Yeah, your ugly blue vest apparently didn't have anything else to do, either." Maeve plastered on a sarcastic, tight-lipped smile as she faced Jess, unintentionally stealing the boy's attention from Rory.

"Maeve." Marjorie gasped in disbelief at the insult as she gently nudged Maeve's side.

"Oh no, Maeve Davis doesn't like something I own, shocker," Jess' eyes widened briefly for added effect as he focused on her. "I think I'll probably cry myself to sleep tonight."

Maeve narrowed her eyes at him, and before she could fire back a witty insult, Lorelai steadfastly rerouted the coarse of the conversation.

"I'm surprised you have time to be here." Lorelai poked Luke's shoulder from her position.

"I don't, but I haven't been able to get any of the war re-enactors on the phone, and I have to confirm them for Louie's funeral." Luke blew out a breath.

Taylor then called attention to the front again to resolve a dispute between himself and a man who opened a produce stand in the park, leaving the townspeople utterly confused at the purpose of the entire event, and when Patty called the meeting as 'adjourned', the entire town was purely relieved.

"Thank god." Maeve blew out a long breath as both her and Marjorie stood up.

Luke advanced towards Taylor to resolve the war re-enactor issue, Lorelai standing up and beginning to leave, and Rory narrowing her eyes at Jess. "Don't you have some cleaning up to do over at the diner?"

Jess blew out an exasperated breath at the order as he slowly stood up, but stopped before he could fully leave as he casted his eyes over to Maeve.

"I'll walk you home, Margie." Lorelai offered, flashing the woman a kind smile.

"Oh, thank you, sweetheart, that's very kind of you," Marjorie happily accepted the offer with a grin, then turning to Maeve. "Maeve, you have keys for the house, I'll probably be sleeping by the time you get home from the diner."

"I won't be too long, there's just a bit of cleaning up, nana." Maeve sent her grandmother a smile.

With that, Marjorie squeezed her granddaughter's hand and headed off with Lorelai and Rory, leaving Maeve and Jess.

"And then there were two." Maeve began as she faced Jess.

"Three," Delaney's voice sounded as the girl appeared right beside Maeve. "Let me guess, we're cleaning the diner?"

"We are," Maeve flashed Delaney a smile as she began to leave the barn, the other two following suit. "Join the club, Del."

"Great, this'll be so much fun." Jess sardonically started as the three began to walk down the street and towards the diner.

"Yeah, and even though Rory's not here, you're still gonna do some work, Jess." Maeve pointedly glared at the boy.

Jess scoffed at the assertion. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Maeve raised her eyebrows. "You don't do any work unless Rory tells you to."

"Okay, enough about Rory Gilmore, can we talk about something else?" Delaney interjected, the girl rolling her eyes as she didn't want to hear about Rory more than she needed to.

"Like...?" Maeve let her voice trail off, the girl awaiting her best friend's answer as they soon approached the diner.

"I don't know, maybe how fast we'll clean the diner up." Delaney grinned as she pushed the door open and walked in, the other two following.

"Are you seriously making this a competition?" Jess unenthusiastically glared at Delaney as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Uh, yeah, sure, why not?" Delaney just decided to go with the idea as she sat on one of the tables.

Maeve smiled as she went along with the idea and turned to face Jess. "It'll be fun, absolutely crushing you in everything, as always."

"Okay, that's not happening," Jess furrowed his eyebrows in protest. "And remind me to give you a mixtape later."

"Oh my god, you guys and your mixtapes." Delaney groaned, head tilting back momentarily in exasperation before she just walked over to grab the broom from the corner and started to sweep.

"First one to clean up the diner wins!" Maeve exclaimed, the girl running towards the counter, Delaney widening her eyes but quickening her speed.

"What are you doing?" Jess stared at the pair, slightly cringing at their excitement.

"Don't be so serious for once in your life, Jess," Maeve rolled her eyes as she began to quickly wipe down the counter. "I guess you're fine with being a loser."

"What?" Jess frowned at the words as he began to advance towards the counter. "I'm not going to lose."

Delaney laughed as she continued sweeping the floor. "You will if you keep stalling."

"You're both unbearably annoying, you know that, right?" Jess scoffed, but grabbed a rag and advanced towards a table anyway.

"So we've been told." Maeve grinned at the action, and as she moved towards another countertop, Jess briefly turned his head to glance between her and Delaney for a moment, the boy shaking his head but huffing out a small, amused breath as he decided to participate in their game.

•

The next day, Delaney helped out Maeve, Jess and Luke with the diner's duties again, with Rory and Lorelai also helping out too.

"Hey, how fun was our game yesterday?" Delaney started with a small smile as she gently elbowed Maeve's waist, Jess walking past them with a coffee pot in hand at the same time. "I knew I would crush you both."

"You're both so competitive, it's scary." Jess stated as he briefly glanced at the pair on his way to serve another customer.

"Neither of us will disagree with you, but admit it, you had fun." Maeve simply shrugged as she went around the counter to grab the second coffee pot.

"Young man, where's the young lady we heard so much about who's using those delightful old diner phrases to place people's orders?" A woman inquired politely to Jess, who met her enthusiasm with incredible vexation as he clenched his jaw. "It sounds so fun. Could you point her out for us?"

"No." Jess' eyes filled with irritation as he bluntly answered and walked away.

The woman's, once cheerful, face fell, to which Delaney just narrowed her eyes at Jess in response. "Do you just hate joy?"

"Yes," Jess, again, bluntly answered as he glanced at Maeve, who was pouring a customer's coffee, Rory handing a customer their plates of food at the adjacent table. "That's everyone. I'll be upstairs."

"Thanks for doing the very least you could possibly do." Rory sarcastically interjected, Maeve furrowing her eyebrows at Jess as she watched him walk upstairs.

"You're welcome." He called out.

•

Maeve continued to incessantly knock on the diner's locked front door, knowing that Jess was right upstairs. "Jess, open the door right now!"

Maeve had been trying to wake Jess up for the past fifteen minutes—she knew he'd be sleeping in, as it was currently seven a.m. on a Saturday—, and she wouldn't stop until he opened the diner for her.

Increasing the sound of her knocking, Maeve shouted louder—if it was even possible—, and she was so focused on her task that she didn't care about Luke's neighbours as she finished off her string of commands in a singsongy voice. "Jess, I know you're up there! Being super lazy and annoying!"

Groaning in frustration once she didn't receive any sign of life from Jess, Maeve stepped back and thought of a more effective idea.

Stepping back even further, Maeve searched on the ground for stray stones, and the girl collected a handful of them as she stood directly under Jess' bedroom window.

Inhaling a deep breath, Maeve used a fair amount of energy to throw the stones right into Jess' window, the girl using more force with each throw to try and get him up.

Finally getting fed-up with the boy's lack of response when she ran out of stones to throw, which was definitely purposeful at this point, Maeve just groaned in pure frustration and allowed herself to shout even louder. "Jess Mariano, get your ass down here right now before I break in!"

Eventually, after what felt like hours, Jess begrudgingly approached the doorway to the diner, wiping his eyes tiredly as he unlocked the door and swung it open, irked voice slightly raspy as he spoke. "The full name, huh? What are you doing here?"

"Yeah, the full name, you irritating weasel, and I'm clearly trying to get in." Maeve scoffed as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why?" Jess couldn't conceptualise the possible reason for her being at the diner's front door at seven a.m. on a Saturday.

"Because Margie, the town and I are setting up a wake for Luke's uncle before Luke and Lorelai get back from the service. All you need to do is leave the door unlocked, Patty, Margie and I'll take care of the rest," Maeve responded, still aggravated. "Not that you'd know anything about empathy."

"If I agree to this, will you finally just leave me alone?" Jess deadpanned.

"Yes, I'll let you go back upstairs and get your beauty sleep, Miss Mariano." Maeve drew out as she pushed her way past Jess and walked into the diner, advancing towards the counter.

"Excuse me?" Jess turned to frown at her in utter bewilderment.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Jess, was that too personal? I guess I was mistaken. Did you not want to be called a girl after you threw a temper tantrum about not getting your 'rest and relaxation time'? Or is that just a little too Maeve Davis for you?" Maeve whipped around to face Jess as she raised her eyebrows with an unfounded sense of faux-naïveté, and when she observed Jess' utterly exasperated glare, she knew he thought back to their previous supermarket rendezvous.

"You've made your point." Jess almost rolled his eyes at her.

"Because I'm just trying to help you understand my point of view." Maeve's eyebrows lifted as she held a hand up to her chest.

"Got it, Maeve." Jess deadpanned again.

"If you're having trouble figuring it out, I could make a table, draw a diagram." Maeve suggested lightheartedly as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Enough." Jess began to advance towards the stairs as he already had enough of her antics, and when she couldn't see his face anymore, a small smirk, just barely, ghosted his lips.

Maeve carried on. "You know, just sketch some stick figures or something-"

"Maeve, I get it." Jess abruptly cut her off as he began to walk up the stairs to avoid another playful taunt, his own words lined with a joking undertone.

"Don't forget to exfoliate when you wake up!" Maeve called out after him, grinning in satisfaction as she knew he was smirking at her joke.

•

"Maeve, Margie." Luke started in utter surprise as he approached Maeve and Marjorie, who were standing at the end of the counter, the two eating from their respective plates of food.

Maeve and Marjorie turned around at the sound of their names being called, Luke's voice filled with appreciation as he flickered his eyes between the pair. "Did you guys do all this?"

"It was all Maeve's idea, honey," Marjorie warmly smiled at her granddaughter. "She suggested it to Patty last night, and that was that."

"I- I can't believe it, this is amazing," Luke huffed out an impressed breath as he shifted his eyes around the packed diner before landing them back on Maeve, everyone wearing some item of black clothing to support Luke and eating from plates of food that Taylor and the man who owned the kiosk in the park provided. "Thanks, Maeve. Really, this is great. Wow."

A grin spread across Maeve's face at the words as she shrugged, trying to play off how happy Luke's approval made her as she placed her plate on the counter. "Yeah, well, everyone contributed a little something, so..."

"Come here, kid." A warm, genuine smile appeared on Luke's face as he pulled Maeve into a grateful hug, Maeve's grin growing as she hugged him back.

Marjorie smiled as she watched the interaction, the woman knowing how much faith Luke had in Maeve, as well as how much hope Maeve put into this current event to be successful.

Because of how little Luke shared about himself and how much he did for others, he never wanted to be a burden on anyone, people often forgot about his own personal experiences and struggles, so Maeve just wanted to show him that he was very much appreciated by everyone in Stars Hollow, more than he knew.

"I'm glad you like it, Luke." Maeve started as the pair pulled away.

"Like it?" Luke raised his eyebrows, a small smile still on his face. "I love it, kid."

Maeve smiled again, and Marjorie glanced at Luke, the woman raising her eyebrows as she spoke up. "Should we get something to eat, Luke?"

"Sure, Margie." Luke accepted, nodding as both him and Marjorie headed over to get plates of food.

"Hey." Maeve smiled as she approached Flynn, who was standing at the other end of the counter, the girl not missing Rory teasing Jess about being part of their town on the way over.

"Hey, Maeve," Flynn smiled back as he wrapped one arm around her waist and pulled her into his side, the boy gesturing to his plate of food with his other hand. "This is good."

"Yeah, it's a shame that Taylor basically kicked that vegetable guy out of town." Maeve's eyebrows quirked up.

Flynn huffed out a chuckle at the words, eyebrows lifting as he glanced at her again after a few seconds. "Hey, are you coming to my game tomorrow morning?"

Maeve met his gaze, the girl nodding at the words as her tone softened. "Yeah, of course."

Observing a small smirk tug on the corners of Flynn's lips, Maeve's tone shifted into a joking one. "I won't bring a book this time."

If Flynn thought the joke was funny, he didn't convey it. All that signified that he acknowledged the words was the presence of a, now fading, smirk.

Maeve just huffed out a small, uncomfortable chuckle as she just cleared her throat and glanced away.

•

AUTHOR'S NOTE
maeve, delaney and jess as a trio?!

© voidvaleska