Chapter Text
"Jill, I don't want to yet." Chris grumbled as he made a half hearted attempt at dragging himself out of his warm and cozy bed.
The early Sunday morning light poured in from the bedroom window as Chris squeezed his eyes tight, joggling the sleepiness from his head.
His girlfriend was leaning against the outer wall of their bedroom, her hand resting on her cheek. Her head tilted in a way that caused her hair to partially obstruct her irritated smile."Chris, you know you need actual furniture in the apartment right?”
Jill’s words were only met with another grumble and a deep sigh as the bed creaked in protest of Chris moving. “When I said we should go together, I didn’t mean,” he stopped to check the clock, “6:17 am.”
A scoff.
"You know the saying, Early Bird gets the worm?", She adjusted her stance to show her crooked frown, "Well. For an early bird, you're about to lose the worm if you don't get a move on."
Chris, though it being true he's an 'early bird', hated shopping on a weekend especially a Sunday. He would rather be woken to go on an extremely dangerous mission than be dragged from store to store looking for 'better' furniture.
"Furniture or you?" Chris sighed as he scanned his closet for anything that wasn't something RPD related to wear. Though that was seemingly the majority of his clean clothes at the moment.
Jill chuckled as she pushed off the wall, "Take your pick."
He rolled his eyes as he pulled on some graphic tee Claire had gotten him for Christmas a few years back. A part of him was surprised that it still fit, a bit tight in the arms but otherwise a precise fit.
Jill sighed as she turned on her heel as she reached the door, "But on a serious note, We really do need some and no, we can't just get the cheapest and leave.".
Her stare might've felt cold but it was accompanied by the truth. Chris, who had the apartment in the first place, did barely have any sort of furniture, let alone decorations, besides a few framed photos of his sister and their parents. It had an empty feeling as if no one actually lived there. The only signs of life were the messes in the bedroom and kitchen, which caused Jill to make a mental note to try and correct that.
"If we go out of budget, then don't blame me." He called after her as she sauntered towards the kitchen, laughing as she went, "Also for the record, those jeans look fantastic on you."
"Compliments on my ass ain't gonna get you out of this." Her smirk plastered throughout her words.
"Worth a try." Chris grumbled to himself as he set off looking for clean pants.
Once fully dressed, he trudged himself to the folding table he was calling a dining room table. Which was adorned with two plates of eggs and bacon.
"Where's Redd?" Chris flopped down into the matching folding chairs as he eyed the food. "Seriously, she gets her own plate?"
"Claire offered to walk her this morning. She had stopped by before I woke you. And of course, you would have just fed her some of yours anyway." Jill slid into the opposing chair to Chris.
"This early? Claire could never get up before at least nine for years…" Chris snorted sarcastically, in-between bites.
Jill smiled as she turned to wash the few dishes from cooking. Something about how she held her at the moment set off a bit of an uneasy energy, but hell would Chris have noticed, these were some bomb ass eggs.
"You eating?"
"Huh?"
"You only made two plates of eggs." Chris worried as he slid his plate into the sink from behind her.
"Oh," Jill began as she turned to face him, "I ate mine before you came out, Slowpoke…". She tacked the last part on as a way to make her faulty lie a bit more believable, though the census was undeterminable if it worked.
Before Chris could respond, Jill looked past him towards the table to see what you could call 'A snapped in half folding chair'. "Chris…?"
"Yes…?" He parroted the extended last syllables back to her as he followed her gaze.
"Why is the chair broken?" Her eyes flicked to meet his with a hint of annoyance flickering within them.
Chris pulled a face of disbelief as he gestured aimlessly, "I have no clue how that could ever happen. The company assured me they are the sturdiest on the market."
"See why you need new furn- seriously?! The coffee machine too?"
Chris chuckled nervously as he rubbed his neck, “Might've broke it yesterday..."
A part of both of them felt as if this shit was getting out of hand, but hey, at least it wasn't the entire couch this time. That is one wild story for another lifetime.
"Broke it? How in the hell did you break a whole coffee machine without me noticing?" Jill stared baffled at the once like brand new, top of the line Coffee machine gifted to Chris from The RPD a few years back. The thing did take a beating due to both of their use, but there is no reason the damn thing would be nearly snapped in half in the way it is. The entire back of the water tank was cracked open and the dispenser looked as if it was twisted off. The machine was definitely not in working order no matter how much you would try and fix it, which it does appear as if he did try to.
"Might have gotten you coffee from the coffee shop by the station after I hit it making my coffee.”
“Damn, should’ve guessed you couldn’t make coffee that good...” she pouted,as she moved over towards the door, “Not to sound rude, but you're terrible at making coffee.”
Chris sighed and rolled his eyes as he washed his dishes in response as a knock on the door rang out quite loud.
Jill quickly pulled on her shoe as she turned the doorknob, nearly being knocked over by Redd as she barreled into the apartment. Her other shoe yet to be put on when flying as well.
“Redd Christopher Pawfield! What did I tell you about nearly knocking your mother over?” Claire yelled behind the dog as she helped Jill stabilize herself again, “She was just behaving a moment ago in the elevator.”. She mumbled to honestly anyone who could hear.
The walk was in fact successful, but not really for Redd, a German Shepherd/ Dalmatian mix, who is missing her right back leg and half of her left ear. Claire did get a phone number or two out of the walk. Though she would never tell who’s it was, unless she wanted to get an earful from her brother and possibly Leon, if she was being honest.
“It’s fine, isn't the first time nor will it be the last.” Jill smiled at Claire as she attempted to cross the living room esque area that was currently a racetrack between Chris and Redd.
Claire made a worried face as she pulled the door closed behind her before heading over to the folding table dressed to be a dining room table. Yes, She did think that her brother lived quite a hectic life, but she also knew he wouldn’t really want it any other way. As long as he was with Jill and Redd, he was happy enough to make Claire feel a bit upset over how she used to treat him growing up. He was the only person she could truly depend on to be there for her and Chris most definitely knew that. A drop of a hat and he would put his life on everyone in the room. It was something he just felt obligated to do. A behavior that will take years if not over a decade to correct.
“Could you stop chasing the dog through this apartment and maybe put your shoes on or something productive towards leaving?” Jill sighed as she ran back into the half of the room they called the dining by Claire.
Chris stopped dead. Redd followed suit as she sat and tilted her head at him.
“Redd, She told me I had to stop playing with the prettiest girl here.” He smiled at her as he quickly ruffled the fur behind her ears, before actually listening to Jill and heading off to find a matching pair of shoes.
While he was gone the girls ‘gossiped’ about Claire's new possible beau and his apparent best features. Neither of them usually acted like this, but for a moment they just acted like school girls giggling about the new boy. It was therapeutic to them to feel like they could just talk about it. Though Jill did make a mental note of his features to ask Chris if possibly knew him. Hey she may not be her ‘sister’ quite yet, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be protective of her.
“You ready?”
“Are you?” Jill sighed with a hint of laughter as she grabbed the last few items and headed for the door.
“I assume Claire had important business to attend to?” he joked as he followed her out of the apartment, but not before ruffling Redd’s fur yet again. Jill sometimes jokes that he loves that dog more than anyone else, which he denies.
“Dreadfully important.” She placed a hand on her chest as she dragged out the sentence as if it was terrible news, “She has something to do she can’t be late to or she might be sorry.”
“Cryptic.”
“What can I say your sister has things to get done and even if she can’t, she still tries her damnedest to accomplish it.” She shrugged as she heard Chris’ smile.
“As a Redfield Should!”