Chapter Text
He fidgeted in his seat, eyes leaping over spots on the walls without really processing what was there. The entire room felt a bit too stuffy and restricting, the air settling on his skin and making him itch to leave, to move, to do anything but just sit there. With the windows and door closed the air wasn’t circulating, only adding to his discomfort. He could vaguely hear two people talking in another room as well but he wasn’t about to eavesdrop on their private conversation. Instead he rubbed his hands together nervously and hoped that whoever was going to interview him would get in there soon.
He wanted to know if they’d accept him. He’d tried almost every other place in the small town but none of them would take him. They called him destructive and impatient. They said they didn’t want him to bring a bad reputation to their business. They all assumed a lot of things based on what he’d done in the past. Maybe he deserved it, though. He’d done all those things willingly.
But honestly, he kind of hated small towns for that reason (among many, many others). People never forgot you. They never forgot the things you did, or the things you said. You go to the principal’s office once in second grade for roughhousing and you’re pegged as aggressive and a bad influence. You constantly fought, even as you grew up? You always came home with cuts and bruises because some asshole kid insulted your only friend? You always had Band-Aids over the worse cuts even if they’ve healed? Say goodbye to anything being easy in your life because everyone thinks you’re always up to pick a fight.
He had been the angry one ever since he’d got into a shouting match with his teacher. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had a good reason to. She was being incredibly hard on one of his only friends at the time. But people didn’t particularly care about the reason. They just cared that it happened and that the Jones kid got in school suspension for it. They only cared as far as they had to, taking things at face value and never digging any deeper.
Ironically the few people in town who accepted him were the sheriff and his officers. Michael wasn’t afraid to admit that he’d been on the wrong side of the iron bars on more than one occasion. Eventually, though, the sheriff started to warm up to him. He wasn’t soft, though, and if anything especially bad happened he still locked him up for the night until his uncle could come bail him out. They were on friendly terms, though. Well, friendly enough, anyways.
Even with the sheriff on his side it wasn’t easy. Almost everywhere he applied had turned him down. Honestly he was lucky that the General Store had even considered his application. They were probably short on volunteers or something if they were willing to take him in. Or maybe they just felt sorry for him.Whatever the reason he was here now and he'd be damned if he let this opportunity slip past him.
When he heard the door open he stiffened and shoved his hands deeply into his lap. He heard heavy footfalls around him and a man plopped down into the seat opposite him. His heavy lidded eyes seemed to scan him, assessing and judging him. He smelled like herbs and smoke and a little bit like booze as well. Michael fidgeted awkwardly, unwilling to make eye contact with the man.
"Michael Jones, right?" He wasn't sure what he was expecting the guy's voice to sound like, but it certainly wasn't this. It was light and apathetic, though there was still something in it that implied that he cared. For some reason he felt himself relaxing marginally.
"Uh... yeah. That's me," he chuckled nervously. His eyes skittered over the walls, this time dwelling longer on the pressed flowers behind old glass and the cracked wood panels that made up the walls. There were clips of newspapers and old paper tacked to a corkboard that hung on the wall. It was a strange mix of chaos and comfort, the papers on the desk spread across it haphazardly, the old carpet under his feet worn but still soft. It wasn’t like the other places he’d visited to apply and despite himself he felt at home here.
“Mhmm,” the man hummed, pulling out his phone and checking something. “I’m Geoff. You didn’t really… say anything about yourself on your application.”
Michael chuckled nervously, not sure how to take the statement or the use of his first name instead of his last. “Well… I didn’t think you’d care about that. No one else has… and… well, I answered the ones about the sh- uh, I mean, stuff I can do.”
Geoff nodded. “Yeah, but I actually do want to know about you, Michael. You don’t mind if I call you Michael do you? I’ve never liked formalities.” Michael shook his head even though he kind of did care. He wasn’t about to cross Geoff, though. He had no idea where he stood or how much the other man knew about him. He rubbed his palms on his pants, hoping to get rid of some of the sweat that was forming. “Alright then. Why do you want this job?”
He gulped. “U-uh… because I want to be able to provide for myself. You can’t do that if you don’t have a job and… well, everywhere else turned me down.”
Geoff raised an eyebrow before looking down at his phone again. “Well… you’re technically not a legal adult yet. Wouldn’t your parents support you, even if you can’t find a job? Or are you just looking for spending money?”
Oh no. They were getting onto a topic he didn’t want to talk about. “My uncle makes sure I can eat. He hasn’t been around much lately.”
“No? What about your parents?” Geoff prodded. Alright, there was no way he didn’t know what happened. He was just trying to get Michael to say it himself. What an asshole.
Michael gritted his teeth and practically glowered in Geoff’s direction. “My parents disappeared when I was ten.”
“Oh,” Geoff said blandly. Yep, he definitely knew. It wasn’t like it wasn’t common knowledge. The punk kid’s parents disappear, proclaimed dead, an unknown uncle turns up and becomes his legal guardian. It was something that rarely happened and it was shrouded in so much uncertainty and mystery that it didn’t come as a surprise to anyone when everyone whispered about it. It was gossip. Of course people talked. “I’m sorry.” At least that sounded genuine.
“It happened a long time ago. I’m over it,” Michael said in a way that urged Geoff to move on to another question.
Thankfully he took the hint. “Why’d everyone else turn you down?”
Michael shrugged. “Dunno,” he muttered, even though he absolutely did know. “Guess they just thought my handsome face would disrupt the customers.” Geoff sent an unamused look his way. "Fine, alright, I'm the Jones kid. Everyone thinks I'm always looking for trouble. People think I always want to start a fight."
"Well?" Geoff prodded. "Do you?"
Michael shook his head. "No, not really. Usually it's too much trouble and the consequences aren't worth it."
"Hmm," Geoff hummed. "Alright, well, I don't really see why we can't hire you."
"Wait... are you serious?" Michael spluttered. He hadn't dared hope that this would be the end of his job hunt but... maybe this guy was alright.
"Yeah. We need more employees. Three, including me, means everyone's stretched a little thin, especially when Ray- well, never mind. Congratulations, Michael."
"I- I... thanks a lot, dude. I can start work whenever- hell, I could start tomorrow I don't care, but thanks, you wouldn't believe how hard it's been to find a job." Michael was practically jumping out of his seat with excitement.
Geoff chuckled. "Alright, alright, calm down. I do have one question, though." Michael raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, urging Geoff to continue. "Do you... know you're different?"
Michael felt his stomach drop. Did he know about that? No, he couldn't know about that. He didn’t even completely understand it. He tried to play it off, though, waving his hand and saying, "Yeah, the kids at school made sure I knew that."
Geoff blinked. "Uh... no, I mean... never mind." He sighed and stood up, facing Michael and giving him as genuine a smile as he could. "Well, congratulations on getting a job, Michael. I'll see you tomorrow where I'll hopefully be able to introduce you to the other two jackasses that work here."
Michael brightened at that and nodded his head vigorously. "Yeah, yeah, I'll be here. Thanks again, it really means a lot." The grin on his face was infectious and Geoff soon found himself smiling a bit more genuinely as well. With that they exchanged goodbyes and Geoff was left alone.
"You know he's not human, right?" A voice asked right by his ear. He nearly jumped a foot in the air, stifling his swearing with a hand pressed over his mouth. He whipped around and glared at the man standing behind him.
"Jack! Stop fucking doing that! I get it already, you can sneak up on me," Geoff huffed. "And yeah, I know he's not human. You being here means he's not human, you giving me that weird ass look while I was talking to him means he's not human." Geoff crossed his arms. "So now that we've established I know, are you going to tell me what he is?"
"Eh, I think I'll wait," Jack said slyly, his lips pulling into a grin. Fucking spirits.
"You better not or else I'll hex you out of the shop for a week," Geoff threatened. They both knew he wouldn't (couldn't) do that, but Jack still put up his hands in surrender.
"Alright, alright. He's a skin changer."
"Like those people that turn into dogs?" Geoff asked, slightly confused. He wasn't the most knowledgeable on the world of monsters, that was Jack's job, but he still knew quite a few. Skin changer was only barely on the list.
"Yes, technically, but I don't think he can turn into a dog," Jack said slowly, dragging out his words.
Geoff huffed and crossed his arms. "Alright, genius, then what can he turn into?"
Jack shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. It's random, as far as I know, what a skin changer can turn into. But... a while ago there were a few other skin changers living in town - probably Michael's family. And, like he said, they disappeared. My best guess was they were killed by hunters. If they were Michael's parents then... well, he's been alone for a long time."
"So basically you're saying we should just wait till he tells us what he can turn into,” Geoff muttered. He'd just hired a skin changer that could turn into a thus far unspecified animal. Well, he could only hope Michael didn't turn out to be the most... volatile of his employees.
Jack nodded before he bit his lip, eyebrows drawing closer to each other. "Geoff, I don't think he really knows what he is. His parents disappeared, I don't think they told him beforehand." Jack looked distressed enough for the worry to start to seep over to Geoff.
He took a step forward and rested a hand against Jack's shoulder. The familiar numbness spread up his arm, the same numbness that always came from physical contact with Jack, but he ignored it for the time being. "Look, if it'll make you feel better I'll talk to him about it. Or I'll get Ray to do it."
Jack nodded. "Yeah, I think it would be better to get Ray to do it." He shuffled a bit where he was standing. "And, uh, watch out for him, please. Like you watch out for Ray?"
"Yeah," Geoff said lowly. "Yeah, I will."
And with that Jack was gone in a blink and Geoff was left alone.