Smoke & Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder [37/?]
MASTER POST
Title: Smoke And Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder (37/?)
Authors: bloody_adorable and eviltwin
Fandoms: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jensen Ackles / Jared Padalecki.
Rating: Adultish.
Wordcount: 2,891
Summary: AU. Jared's a classic case of rich kid gone wrong, whose only sense of family comes from his motorbike, the guy he rents a garage from to live in and the precinct cops who know his face better than most already. Jensen's a hard-working student whose family are helping push him towards great things. What happens when their two worlds collide, and will Jared's troublesome nature be too much for Jensen to handle?
Disclaimer: None of the following is true in any way, and no profit is made from this work of fiction.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
That weekend, while Jensen, Chris and Jensen’s mom helped Stevie move the rest of her stuff from her house to Jeffrey’s so that she could cancel her rent payments and all her other bills, Jared went out to Mickey’s and spoke to Rock about the possibility of working for him. Rock had heard about Jeff already and said he was sorry for the old man, really he was, but he already had three other bar-staff and he didn’t need, nor could he afford, anyone else. Jared didn’t argue. Pleading wasn’t his style. He just left quietly, hopped back on his bike, and rode back into town, wondering what the hell to do now.
He tried a few other bars, but nobody else was hiring. Or, more specifically, nobody else was wanting to hire him. He tried the next step down after that and headed to a diner, asking if he could maybe bus tables or something. The manager took one look at him and sneered.
“Try McDonald’s,” he said. “I hear they hire anyone.”
“Thanks a goddamn bunch, asshole,” Jared growled, and left. He was desperate, though, and he doubted the guy would ever find out if Jared took the advice. There were two branches of McDonald’s in town, and he headed to the one closest to Jensen’s school. A sign on the door told him they were hiring someone to work the tills, no experience needed. He pushed the door open and headed inside, feeling a pang of hunger at the first smell of grease and grilled beef.
With his helmet in his hands and the most honest expression he could muster, he asked to speak to the manager about the job.
An hour later, he’d been hired. He was told to come back on Monday morning, first thing, cleaned up and ready for his orientation training. He didn’t know what the hell kind of orientation a McDonald’s employee needed, since as far as he could see the staff seemed to be made up of pre-teens and idiots, but he didn’t say anything. His tongue was going to need surgery, he thought, for all the biting it that he would be doing.
When he got home, Jared helped Stevie find a place for all the stuff she had brought over, moving one of the bikes from the garage to the backyard and covering it with a tarpaulin to make more room for storage. He didn’t tell her about where his job was, just that he had one and it’d probably be minimum wage, but it’d help. Stevie hugged him and thanked him, telling him Jeff was real pleased that he was stepping up.
“He didn’t think I had it in me, huh?”
“I’m sure that’s not what he meant,” Stevie chided. “He knows what you’re capable of, he’s just glad you’re realizing it too.”
“Are we going to go visit him tonight?”
“Of course we can. Right after dinner. Doc said yesterday that they can let him come home Monday, but he’ll need to go in to the hospital most days for physical therapy. Thinks he’ll be off work for a good couple of months, at the very least. Probably longer, depending.”
Jared grimaced, turning away so Stevie wouldn’t see it. Two whole months serving burgers to spotty youths wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time, but he’d promised Jeff and he wasn’t about to back down from it. He kissed the back of Jensen’s head as he passed him and then took his place at the table, his stomach growling when Stevie lifted the cover off the big pot in the center.
“Hungry?” She asked, smiling.
“Yeah. All that job-hunting, you know? Gives a guy an appetite.”
“Good, dig in then. There’s plenty.”
Jared did exactly as he was told, starting when he felt something warm brush his leg. He looked over at Jensen, but the younger man was serving out his own food and completely oblivious.
Then something under the table meowed and Jared quickly scooted his chair back. “What the hell?”
“Oh, right. I forgot. I picked my cat up today and brought her over too. She’s been staying with a friend while I was… Y’know. Always over here. I didn’t want to bring her over before in case she and Shelby didn’t get on, but, well, they seem to be fine.”
“Huh,” was all Jared could say, and he reached down and let the cat rub its head against his fingers. “She’s…”
“Cute,” Jensen finished. “You should see her with Shelby.”
“Anything else I should know about?” Jared asked. “Like more animals?”
“Just her,” Stevie answered. “You’re not allergic, are you?”
“I don’t think so. Guess we’ll find out.” Jared gently pushed the cat away from his ankles and turned his attention back to his meal.
When they returned from the hospital it was already getting late. Stevie paid the cab driver and followed the boys inside, turning on the lounge lights as she went by. “Are you guys going out tonight?”
Jensen shrugged. “I should get my homework done,” he answered.
“It’s Saturday night, Jen, you should be going out.”
“And you’re a teacher?” Jared asked. “Such a bad influence.”
“Well I don’t want to see you miss out on nights out with your friends. And I’m sure your mom wouldn’t want that either.”
“I guess not. Jay?”
“Sure. Call Chris, see if he’ll pick us up. Guy’s night out.” At the look on Jensen’s face, Jared rolled his eyes. “Dude, I’m not taking you out on the bike. Not even the Harley. It’s too icy out for passengers.”
“Chris is probably out with Dani.”
“Then I guess we’re staying in, since anywhere that I’d want to go is too far to walk and I can’t afford to spring for a cab.”
Jensen smirked. “Hell, why didn’t you just say you want to have sex?”
“Okay, I really, really want to have sex with you. Right now.”
Jared laughed when Stevie stuck her fingers in her ears and shook her head at them both. “Are you two done?”
Jensen took a gentle hold of her arms and moved them back down. “We’re done. Just turn the TV up nice and loud.”
“Uh huh. Thanks for the warning. Go on, go have fun. I’ll be fine, on my own.”
“Glad to hear it,” Jared laughed, tugging on Jensen’s sleeve until the younger man stumbled after him into the garage. He shut the door behind them, to minimise the chances of Stevie being disturbed by them. As soon as it was shut, Jensen found himself pushed up against it, Jared’s hands fisting together in his hair as he started in on his mouth. By the time he finally stepped back a little, they were both gasping for breath. “Fucking love kissing you,” Jared told him.
“I noticed.” Jensen slid his fingers underneath Jared’s shirt, held onto him with a gentle grip. “So where’d you find someone that would pay you money to fuck up their business?”
“Hmm. No.”
“No? What do you mean, no?”
“I mean, no, I ain’t tellin’ you. If I tell you, you’re gonna laugh and tell me I’m an idiot.”
“No I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are.”
“Jared…” Jensen reached up, pulling Jared down so he could run his tongue over his boyfriend’s lips. “Just tell me.”
“Fine. I got a job on the tills at Mac-D’s.”
“You’re kidding.”
“See? I knew you’d be a jerk about it!” Jared stepped away, headed for the couch in front of his old TV and flopped down onto the cushions. Jensen pushed away from the door and followed, draping himself over the back of the couch and kissing Jared’s ear.
“I’m not being a jerk. I’m just trying to imagine you in that uniform, being polite to people.”
“You been to McDonald’s recently? Ain’t nobody there even knows what the word polite means. They all look like they’d rather be sat at home with their fingers up their asses, playing video games.”
“You’ll fit right in then, huh?” Jensen teased. He yelped when Jared reached around and got an arm around his neck. Jared twisted and pulled Jensen over the back of the couch easily, laying him down on it and putting a knee against his crotch to stop him sitting back up. “You gonna beat some sense into me?” Jensen breathed.
“That’s not even funny,” Jared told him. “You know I wouldn’t hurt you.”
Jensen felt his cheeks flush and looked away, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. Jared moved his knee anyway and then eased himself down until his body was flush with Jensen’s. He kissed him softly, showing him it was already forgotten about, and Jensen felt himself relaxing again. The touch of his mouth was gentle, careful, and Jensen wondered if he was doing it on purpose now to prove a point. He liked it, though. It was a change from rough, from feeling like they were kissing as though the world was going to end.
He drew his legs up around Jared’s, pushing up against him, and caught the moan that tumbled from the other man’s lips. It felt like an effort to stop when Jared told him to, but he did, and then shivered as his jeans were unfastened and warm fingers stretched out under the elastic of his shorts.
“Not gonna film it this time?” Jensen asked, looking down as Jared pushed up away from him and made a fist around his cock.
Jared grinned, sly and easy, and shook his head. “Not this time.”
Monday morning, Chris picked Jensen and Stevie up early. Since Jeff’s car had been wrecked, he’d been leaving earlier than normal so he could pick them up and get them to school on time each day. Stevie made him accept gas money that morning and told him that once she’d got Jeff home she would be trying to sort out hiring a car for a while so that she wouldn’t have to keep relying on him.
Jared said he didn’t need a lift with them, catching Jensen’s smirk and stopping him with a quick glare. He said he’d take his bike, and yes, he would be very careful, and that he’d see them after school was finished. Stevie wished him luck for his first day and Jensen opened the window so Jared could lean through it and quickly kiss him.
“Try not to kill anyone,” Jensen told him.
“I’ll try. Ain’t making any promises, though.”
“Try real hard then. Jay?”
Jared leaned in closer, frowning when Jensen reached around and took hold of the hair at the back of his neck. Jensen pulled him in, kissed him slowly, and ignored the comments from the driver’s side. He turned his head and whispered in Jared’s ear that he loved him. Then he let go and settled back in his seat, keeping his eyes on Jared until Chris set the truck moving.
Wondering what the hell that had been about, Jared dug into his jacket pocket for his bike keys and headed over to it, swinging a leg over and getting comfy.
He arrived at work ten minutes early and found a spot in the staff parking lot at the rear of the building. There was a greasy-haired adolescent stood outside the open back door, a cigarette held firmly between her lips. As he walked up, she plucked it out of her mouth and flicked the ash behind her.
“Hi.”
“Hey, there.”
“You’re the new guy, right?”
“Obviously.”
“I’m Sabrina. Shift manager’s through there.”
“Okay. Thanks, Sabrina, I’m sure I’d have had real trouble finding him without your help.”
The sarcasm was lost on her; he could see it just from her eyes. She smiled and nodded and went back to smoking her cigarette and he resisted the urge to grab it out of her fingers and stub it out with his boot. Instead he carried on to the office that he’d been told to report to and knocked on the door before going straight in.
“Hey, Jared Padalecki,” he introduced himself, sighing when the guy behind the desk just waved a hand at him to sit down and didn’t even look up as he did so. He was scrawling something on a notepad and only when he was done did he bother acknowledging Jared was there.
“My name’s Paul, I’m the guy responsible for training you. I’m who you come to with any questions. Do you have any questions yet?”
“I.. Uh. I just walked in the door like three minutes ago, so not really.”
“Okay, wiseass. Go find a uniform, Sabrina will help you with that, and then meet me out front and I’ll run you through the tills while we’re quiet. After that you’ll be on your own, but you’ll have Cass with you in case you run into trouble. You get a lunch break after the first five hours. Half an hour, you take it in the staff-room, and once the half hour is up you work till your shift finishes. Since you’re on middle shift this week, you finish at five. Got any questions now?”
Jared shook his head. “Huh-uh.”
Ten minutes later he was stood behind the tills in a uniform that had been designed for someone about four inches shorter than he was, trying not to look at anyone who came in. They were staring at him while they ordered, he knew that, and he was doing his best to ignore it. The short-sleeved shirt of the uniform showed off the majority of his tattoos and he really didn’t look like the kind of loser that he thought belonged here. Paul spent three quarters of an hour with him, going through all the possible button combinations that he would need to know, and by the time he left Jared wondered what the hell qualifications someone needed to manage a burger joint. He was pretty sure Jensen was smart enough to run the damned district, judging by what he’d seen so far.
Cass, at least, seemed to possess some sense. She watched over Jared’s elbow the first couple of times he served someone, and told him he was doing a good job.
It wasn’t going to last.
When it happened it was about fifteen minutes before he was due to go for his lunch. He knew the guy was going to be a dick the moment he saw him come in. He had a kid hanging off one hand and dragged her to the counter, his wife or girlfriend or goddamn sister, Jared had no idea, trailing behind him.
“Hi, welcome to McDonald’s, what can I get you, sir?” Cass asked, her smile bright.
“I just got in the fuckin’ door,” the guy answered. “So give me a fuckin’ minute, darling.”
Jared saw Cass mouthing, ‘o-kay’, and he took a step towards her. “Sorry, sir.”
“Yeah, you damned well should be. You never get the fuckin’ order right in this shithole anyway, so let me think of something simple for you.”
“There a problem?” Jared asked, unable to listen to the guy’s attitude any more. His question went ignored, though, and he leant over the counter to repeat it in spite of Cass having a hand on his arm and trying to pull him back.
“There ain’t a problem if this bitch can get the order right.”
“You know what, pal? She don’t have to serve you, so why don’t you take your white trash ass and get the fuck out of here.”
He saw what the guy was going to do before he did it, and in a flash he had his hand up to catch the fist that had been aimed at him. He twisted, his eyes hard as the guy screeched in pain.
“You little asshole!”
Now Cass dug her fingernails into Jared’s skin and pulled harder, making him take a step back. “What?”
“We do have to serve him, Jared, so just let it go before you get fired, okay?”
“You better listen to the little lady,” the man sneered, still smarting from Jared’s physical response.
Jared huffed out a sigh and turned to go, heading through the kitchen towards the staffroom. He was just past the fryers when he heard the nasty laugh, and he looked around, slow, his eyes narrowed.
“You look like a fuckin’ idiot,” the guy told him, pointing at his too-short work pants and smiling nastily.
“You’ll look like a fucked-up idiot if you don’t shut up,” Jared said, voice low and dangerous. He saw Cass waving at him, her eyes wide, and didn’t need to look around to know that Paul had finally ventured out of his office to see what the commotion was about. He turned to face him, ripping the baseball cap off his head and throwing it onto the counter. “Save your breath, prick. I’m goin’.”
He ignored them all as he headed to the staff-room and opened the locker that he’d had for about four and a half hours to take out all his stuff. He stripped out of the pants and lobbed them into the corner of the room, not caring where they landed. Once he was dressed in his own gear again he went straight out the back door without bothering to look back.
--TBC--
Title: Smoke And Lightning, Heavy Metal Thunder (37/?)
Authors: bloody_adorable and eviltwin
Fandoms: Supernatural RPS
Pairing: Jensen Ackles / Jared Padalecki.
Rating: Adultish.
Wordcount: 2,891
Summary: AU. Jared's a classic case of rich kid gone wrong, whose only sense of family comes from his motorbike, the guy he rents a garage from to live in and the precinct cops who know his face better than most already. Jensen's a hard-working student whose family are helping push him towards great things. What happens when their two worlds collide, and will Jared's troublesome nature be too much for Jensen to handle?
Disclaimer: None of the following is true in any way, and no profit is made from this work of fiction.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
That weekend, while Jensen, Chris and Jensen’s mom helped Stevie move the rest of her stuff from her house to Jeffrey’s so that she could cancel her rent payments and all her other bills, Jared went out to Mickey’s and spoke to Rock about the possibility of working for him. Rock had heard about Jeff already and said he was sorry for the old man, really he was, but he already had three other bar-staff and he didn’t need, nor could he afford, anyone else. Jared didn’t argue. Pleading wasn’t his style. He just left quietly, hopped back on his bike, and rode back into town, wondering what the hell to do now.
He tried a few other bars, but nobody else was hiring. Or, more specifically, nobody else was wanting to hire him. He tried the next step down after that and headed to a diner, asking if he could maybe bus tables or something. The manager took one look at him and sneered.
“Try McDonald’s,” he said. “I hear they hire anyone.”
“Thanks a goddamn bunch, asshole,” Jared growled, and left. He was desperate, though, and he doubted the guy would ever find out if Jared took the advice. There were two branches of McDonald’s in town, and he headed to the one closest to Jensen’s school. A sign on the door told him they were hiring someone to work the tills, no experience needed. He pushed the door open and headed inside, feeling a pang of hunger at the first smell of grease and grilled beef.
With his helmet in his hands and the most honest expression he could muster, he asked to speak to the manager about the job.
An hour later, he’d been hired. He was told to come back on Monday morning, first thing, cleaned up and ready for his orientation training. He didn’t know what the hell kind of orientation a McDonald’s employee needed, since as far as he could see the staff seemed to be made up of pre-teens and idiots, but he didn’t say anything. His tongue was going to need surgery, he thought, for all the biting it that he would be doing.
When he got home, Jared helped Stevie find a place for all the stuff she had brought over, moving one of the bikes from the garage to the backyard and covering it with a tarpaulin to make more room for storage. He didn’t tell her about where his job was, just that he had one and it’d probably be minimum wage, but it’d help. Stevie hugged him and thanked him, telling him Jeff was real pleased that he was stepping up.
“He didn’t think I had it in me, huh?”
“I’m sure that’s not what he meant,” Stevie chided. “He knows what you’re capable of, he’s just glad you’re realizing it too.”
“Are we going to go visit him tonight?”
“Of course we can. Right after dinner. Doc said yesterday that they can let him come home Monday, but he’ll need to go in to the hospital most days for physical therapy. Thinks he’ll be off work for a good couple of months, at the very least. Probably longer, depending.”
Jared grimaced, turning away so Stevie wouldn’t see it. Two whole months serving burgers to spotty youths wasn’t exactly his idea of a good time, but he’d promised Jeff and he wasn’t about to back down from it. He kissed the back of Jensen’s head as he passed him and then took his place at the table, his stomach growling when Stevie lifted the cover off the big pot in the center.
“Hungry?” She asked, smiling.
“Yeah. All that job-hunting, you know? Gives a guy an appetite.”
“Good, dig in then. There’s plenty.”
Jared did exactly as he was told, starting when he felt something warm brush his leg. He looked over at Jensen, but the younger man was serving out his own food and completely oblivious.
Then something under the table meowed and Jared quickly scooted his chair back. “What the hell?”
“Oh, right. I forgot. I picked my cat up today and brought her over too. She’s been staying with a friend while I was… Y’know. Always over here. I didn’t want to bring her over before in case she and Shelby didn’t get on, but, well, they seem to be fine.”
“Huh,” was all Jared could say, and he reached down and let the cat rub its head against his fingers. “She’s…”
“Cute,” Jensen finished. “You should see her with Shelby.”
“Anything else I should know about?” Jared asked. “Like more animals?”
“Just her,” Stevie answered. “You’re not allergic, are you?”
“I don’t think so. Guess we’ll find out.” Jared gently pushed the cat away from his ankles and turned his attention back to his meal.
When they returned from the hospital it was already getting late. Stevie paid the cab driver and followed the boys inside, turning on the lounge lights as she went by. “Are you guys going out tonight?”
Jensen shrugged. “I should get my homework done,” he answered.
“It’s Saturday night, Jen, you should be going out.”
“And you’re a teacher?” Jared asked. “Such a bad influence.”
“Well I don’t want to see you miss out on nights out with your friends. And I’m sure your mom wouldn’t want that either.”
“I guess not. Jay?”
“Sure. Call Chris, see if he’ll pick us up. Guy’s night out.” At the look on Jensen’s face, Jared rolled his eyes. “Dude, I’m not taking you out on the bike. Not even the Harley. It’s too icy out for passengers.”
“Chris is probably out with Dani.”
“Then I guess we’re staying in, since anywhere that I’d want to go is too far to walk and I can’t afford to spring for a cab.”
Jensen smirked. “Hell, why didn’t you just say you want to have sex?”
“Okay, I really, really want to have sex with you. Right now.”
Jared laughed when Stevie stuck her fingers in her ears and shook her head at them both. “Are you two done?”
Jensen took a gentle hold of her arms and moved them back down. “We’re done. Just turn the TV up nice and loud.”
“Uh huh. Thanks for the warning. Go on, go have fun. I’ll be fine, on my own.”
“Glad to hear it,” Jared laughed, tugging on Jensen’s sleeve until the younger man stumbled after him into the garage. He shut the door behind them, to minimise the chances of Stevie being disturbed by them. As soon as it was shut, Jensen found himself pushed up against it, Jared’s hands fisting together in his hair as he started in on his mouth. By the time he finally stepped back a little, they were both gasping for breath. “Fucking love kissing you,” Jared told him.
“I noticed.” Jensen slid his fingers underneath Jared’s shirt, held onto him with a gentle grip. “So where’d you find someone that would pay you money to fuck up their business?”
“Hmm. No.”
“No? What do you mean, no?”
“I mean, no, I ain’t tellin’ you. If I tell you, you’re gonna laugh and tell me I’m an idiot.”
“No I’m not.”
“Yeah, you are.”
“Jared…” Jensen reached up, pulling Jared down so he could run his tongue over his boyfriend’s lips. “Just tell me.”
“Fine. I got a job on the tills at Mac-D’s.”
“You’re kidding.”
“See? I knew you’d be a jerk about it!” Jared stepped away, headed for the couch in front of his old TV and flopped down onto the cushions. Jensen pushed away from the door and followed, draping himself over the back of the couch and kissing Jared’s ear.
“I’m not being a jerk. I’m just trying to imagine you in that uniform, being polite to people.”
“You been to McDonald’s recently? Ain’t nobody there even knows what the word polite means. They all look like they’d rather be sat at home with their fingers up their asses, playing video games.”
“You’ll fit right in then, huh?” Jensen teased. He yelped when Jared reached around and got an arm around his neck. Jared twisted and pulled Jensen over the back of the couch easily, laying him down on it and putting a knee against his crotch to stop him sitting back up. “You gonna beat some sense into me?” Jensen breathed.
“That’s not even funny,” Jared told him. “You know I wouldn’t hurt you.”
Jensen felt his cheeks flush and looked away, wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. Jared moved his knee anyway and then eased himself down until his body was flush with Jensen’s. He kissed him softly, showing him it was already forgotten about, and Jensen felt himself relaxing again. The touch of his mouth was gentle, careful, and Jensen wondered if he was doing it on purpose now to prove a point. He liked it, though. It was a change from rough, from feeling like they were kissing as though the world was going to end.
He drew his legs up around Jared’s, pushing up against him, and caught the moan that tumbled from the other man’s lips. It felt like an effort to stop when Jared told him to, but he did, and then shivered as his jeans were unfastened and warm fingers stretched out under the elastic of his shorts.
“Not gonna film it this time?” Jensen asked, looking down as Jared pushed up away from him and made a fist around his cock.
Jared grinned, sly and easy, and shook his head. “Not this time.”
Monday morning, Chris picked Jensen and Stevie up early. Since Jeff’s car had been wrecked, he’d been leaving earlier than normal so he could pick them up and get them to school on time each day. Stevie made him accept gas money that morning and told him that once she’d got Jeff home she would be trying to sort out hiring a car for a while so that she wouldn’t have to keep relying on him.
Jared said he didn’t need a lift with them, catching Jensen’s smirk and stopping him with a quick glare. He said he’d take his bike, and yes, he would be very careful, and that he’d see them after school was finished. Stevie wished him luck for his first day and Jensen opened the window so Jared could lean through it and quickly kiss him.
“Try not to kill anyone,” Jensen told him.
“I’ll try. Ain’t making any promises, though.”
“Try real hard then. Jay?”
Jared leaned in closer, frowning when Jensen reached around and took hold of the hair at the back of his neck. Jensen pulled him in, kissed him slowly, and ignored the comments from the driver’s side. He turned his head and whispered in Jared’s ear that he loved him. Then he let go and settled back in his seat, keeping his eyes on Jared until Chris set the truck moving.
Wondering what the hell that had been about, Jared dug into his jacket pocket for his bike keys and headed over to it, swinging a leg over and getting comfy.
He arrived at work ten minutes early and found a spot in the staff parking lot at the rear of the building. There was a greasy-haired adolescent stood outside the open back door, a cigarette held firmly between her lips. As he walked up, she plucked it out of her mouth and flicked the ash behind her.
“Hi.”
“Hey, there.”
“You’re the new guy, right?”
“Obviously.”
“I’m Sabrina. Shift manager’s through there.”
“Okay. Thanks, Sabrina, I’m sure I’d have had real trouble finding him without your help.”
The sarcasm was lost on her; he could see it just from her eyes. She smiled and nodded and went back to smoking her cigarette and he resisted the urge to grab it out of her fingers and stub it out with his boot. Instead he carried on to the office that he’d been told to report to and knocked on the door before going straight in.
“Hey, Jared Padalecki,” he introduced himself, sighing when the guy behind the desk just waved a hand at him to sit down and didn’t even look up as he did so. He was scrawling something on a notepad and only when he was done did he bother acknowledging Jared was there.
“My name’s Paul, I’m the guy responsible for training you. I’m who you come to with any questions. Do you have any questions yet?”
“I.. Uh. I just walked in the door like three minutes ago, so not really.”
“Okay, wiseass. Go find a uniform, Sabrina will help you with that, and then meet me out front and I’ll run you through the tills while we’re quiet. After that you’ll be on your own, but you’ll have Cass with you in case you run into trouble. You get a lunch break after the first five hours. Half an hour, you take it in the staff-room, and once the half hour is up you work till your shift finishes. Since you’re on middle shift this week, you finish at five. Got any questions now?”
Jared shook his head. “Huh-uh.”
Ten minutes later he was stood behind the tills in a uniform that had been designed for someone about four inches shorter than he was, trying not to look at anyone who came in. They were staring at him while they ordered, he knew that, and he was doing his best to ignore it. The short-sleeved shirt of the uniform showed off the majority of his tattoos and he really didn’t look like the kind of loser that he thought belonged here. Paul spent three quarters of an hour with him, going through all the possible button combinations that he would need to know, and by the time he left Jared wondered what the hell qualifications someone needed to manage a burger joint. He was pretty sure Jensen was smart enough to run the damned district, judging by what he’d seen so far.
Cass, at least, seemed to possess some sense. She watched over Jared’s elbow the first couple of times he served someone, and told him he was doing a good job.
It wasn’t going to last.
When it happened it was about fifteen minutes before he was due to go for his lunch. He knew the guy was going to be a dick the moment he saw him come in. He had a kid hanging off one hand and dragged her to the counter, his wife or girlfriend or goddamn sister, Jared had no idea, trailing behind him.
“Hi, welcome to McDonald’s, what can I get you, sir?” Cass asked, her smile bright.
“I just got in the fuckin’ door,” the guy answered. “So give me a fuckin’ minute, darling.”
Jared saw Cass mouthing, ‘o-kay’, and he took a step towards her. “Sorry, sir.”
“Yeah, you damned well should be. You never get the fuckin’ order right in this shithole anyway, so let me think of something simple for you.”
“There a problem?” Jared asked, unable to listen to the guy’s attitude any more. His question went ignored, though, and he leant over the counter to repeat it in spite of Cass having a hand on his arm and trying to pull him back.
“There ain’t a problem if this bitch can get the order right.”
“You know what, pal? She don’t have to serve you, so why don’t you take your white trash ass and get the fuck out of here.”
He saw what the guy was going to do before he did it, and in a flash he had his hand up to catch the fist that had been aimed at him. He twisted, his eyes hard as the guy screeched in pain.
“You little asshole!”
Now Cass dug her fingernails into Jared’s skin and pulled harder, making him take a step back. “What?”
“We do have to serve him, Jared, so just let it go before you get fired, okay?”
“You better listen to the little lady,” the man sneered, still smarting from Jared’s physical response.
Jared huffed out a sigh and turned to go, heading through the kitchen towards the staffroom. He was just past the fryers when he heard the nasty laugh, and he looked around, slow, his eyes narrowed.
“You look like a fuckin’ idiot,” the guy told him, pointing at his too-short work pants and smiling nastily.
“You’ll look like a fucked-up idiot if you don’t shut up,” Jared said, voice low and dangerous. He saw Cass waving at him, her eyes wide, and didn’t need to look around to know that Paul had finally ventured out of his office to see what the commotion was about. He turned to face him, ripping the baseball cap off his head and throwing it onto the counter. “Save your breath, prick. I’m goin’.”
He ignored them all as he headed to the staff-room and opened the locker that he’d had for about four and a half hours to take out all his stuff. He stripped out of the pants and lobbed them into the corner of the room, not caring where they landed. Once he was dressed in his own gear again he went straight out the back door without bothering to look back.
--TBC--