Chapter Text
1
By the time that you had finished helping Ambrose and his family move, the sun was nearly setting. Sitting down on their couch, (you didn't want to, but your hand was forced!), you waited not-so patiently for your employer to come back with a glass of lemonade. It was a beautiful house. Not small by any means, and for good reason, but it still felt… Homey. The brothers hadn't even begun to unpack, but it just had that vibe already. The sunset streaming through the living room windows hitting your face just right was all it took for you. You tried not to think about your own feelings.
Ambrose came back fairly quickly, handing you the glass (you heard the water running, did he even WASH it for you?) and watched as you took a sip with a smile. Even his smile was gentle. 《DRINK GOOD?》He signed with grace.
"Yeah, the lemonade's great, Rose! You get some too?" You couldn't quite relax in your seat, letting your thirst get ahead of you as your breathing stayed… Relatively the same as when you were doing manual labor. He shook his head no. "Really? You're missing out," you said with a (strained) grin. You were so glad you took this job. Not only was Ambrose incredibly generous and kind, he was wonderful company. It almost made the pit in your stomach bearable.
As hard as Rose worked, in between his campaigning to get monsters not only in residential areas instead of small cramped apartments set to the side and the office work he did, you were honestly surprised he also found the time to call you up too. He was a busy man, but such was the life of a politician you guessed.
It… May have been a bit weird to consider him a friend, since you worked as his ASL interpreter and were now being paid to help him move, but you still held him in high regard. Ambrose was kind of known for being a doormat among monsters, but humans couldn't attest to that at all. He was sure stern when he needed to be.
《YOU OKAY?》He signed, seeing something you probably hadn't. "Why wouldn't I be? I'm okay, yeah." His single eyelight narrowed as he glared (not really meaning it).
《ME (Don't mind, indifferent). A-S-L OKAY.》Were you really that easy to read? You placed your now empty glass on the hardwood floor, and sighed. 《(Don't mind, indifferent). ME WANT SLEEP.》
《TIRED.》He corrected.《YOU DON'T NEED MASK. ME LISTEN.》
You couldn't tell if he meant listen to your troubles or listen to your social cues, but either way, it made your shoulders drop just a little bit. It was impossible to hide things from Ambrose. His one eye was just as keen as two.
《SORRY.》You signed, just as earnest as it would be if you spoke it.
《DON'T. YOU OKAY. TELL ME YOU DAY.》
And you did, relieved that you got the chance.
~
About a week later you started meeting Ambrose's brothers. In fact, you saw a lot more monsters than you ever had, not just skeletons. You guessed that ever since Ambrose had managed to bag monsters a spot in residential neighborhoods, they were much more comfortable going out in public.
You let your shoulders sag a little, your foot tapping on the tile to the beat of the song you were listening to quietly. Laundry day, while being incredibly important, was not your favorite for many reasons (only one being how loud the machines and the people in it were.)
Your laundry only has 30 minutes left on the dryer cycle and you can get out of here.
People watching was practically the only thing you let yourself do with your time in this particular laundromat. It wasn't exactly in a nice part of town (how many laundromats WERE?) and you didn't want to lose your work clothes, so you couldn't spend the whole time on your phone.
Two more people (monsters) walked into the already crowded room. A beanstalk of a skeleton walked shoulder-to-shoulder with a smaller skeleton very into the color cyan it seemed. And bandanas. And cyan bandanas. If you wanted to take off your headphones, you would probably hear the one in blue rambling about how much he didn't want to be here.
This was absolutely your favorite part about people-watching. Keeping your headphones on and imagining what people were talking about. One of them being mad was just the icing on top of the cake!
First, you had to size both of them up. Can't get an accurate read without that.
First guy, who looks a bit like Masala, looked passively annoyed. Like he had been having a bad day, but not currently being chewed out. Maybe his brother was talking about something he was also annoyed about? Dressed casually, cargo shorts and an orange hoodie and… Holy shit, were those custom Nikes?
Little boy (man) Blue looked slightly more business-oriented. Even though his face was in an almost perpetual frown during this whole conversation, his pin-striped cyan and yellow shirt was ironed and tucked in. He was the perfect model of a modern major general (I mean businessman).
You weren't the only person staring at them, you realized after your once-over. You were just the only one not listening. It wasn't like people were lining the walls in an attempt to get as much out of their way as possible, they were just wary. You were wary of monsters too, at first. Their migration to the surface is still on-going, after all.
Of course, there was the obvious guess: Blue boy was ranting about monster politics. There was a hint of something more personal, though.
You know that all 8 skeletons underground were related, so maybe he was talking about Ambrose working too hard? (Working himself to the bone? You'd have to share that one with Rose later, even though you bet he'd heard it before. He likes skeleton puns!) But no, Beanpole looks annoyed at this conversation and his brother! Maybe not downright mad, but he's not very happy, and doesn't seem to be in agreement. Surely his brothers would be more concerned if that was the case? Brother Talk was out so far.
Maybe Blue boy was concerned about how much laundry he had brought to the laundromat? That was a fair assessment. Most people don't travel with dirty clothes, and you had just helped Ambrose with the heavy lifting of furniture a few days ago. Surely clothes would come next? Beanpole's load looked rather… Hefty, for only being a few days worth.
Hey, hadn't you helped Rose get a washing machine and dryer into the house? And you had seen one of those washing machines that doesn't hold much so it doesn't use as much water. Did the brothers just… Have that much laundry?
Again, who travels with dirty clothes packed?
… Beanpole is nudging his brother with his elbow. He points his head in your direction. You hadn't even TRIED to hide your staring, you realize.
Shit. He must think I'm a racist asshole. Which he? BOTH. God, and you work with their brother!
You didn't know what to do, you were trapped. No, you weren't! You could always turn to your laundry and act like it was the most interesting thing in the world! You didn't even think about your phone, nope, instead you were inspecting a "stain" on your shirt, which was clearly not stained.
The businessman knocked on the door to the machine and looked to you expectantly.
Shit, contact!
You took off your headphones to (ironically) face the music.