Chapter Text
It was 4 AM when Revy stumbled into the door of her apartment. Soaked in sweat and alcohol she shambled her way through the dirty laundry littering the floor, each step losing a piece of what she was currently wearing. First, she tossed off one boot then another as she unzipped her pants and couldn’t be bothered to expend the extra energy to pull them down, just let them fall to the floor. She then fought to rip the t-shirt off her torso in a tired daze. The last of the energy from the show in her system crashing down as she finally collapsed onto her mattress in just her underwear as sleep began to overtake her. Unfortunately it didn’t last long as the alarm clock began to ring only three hours later. As she pulled the pillow over her head to reduce the ringing, and blindly slammed her fist on her night stand until the clock finally shut up. She began to whine into the pillow desperate for some rest when she heard her phone start ringing.
“REVY! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO OPEN THIS MORNING AND I’M ALL ALONE!” Her boss, Dutch yelled through the receiver
Revy’s eyes shot wide open as she realized she had agreed to take an opening shift at the record store. “Oh son of a bitch… I totally forgot, I played a show last night. I didn’t get home till four and completely collapsed into my bed as soon as I got in…” With a groan she lifted herself up out of the bed and sat, taking a deep breath and sighing while looking at the clock reading out 9:47 AM. She groaned and pushed herself off the bed and promptly stepped into an open pizza box from three days ago, right on a slice of pizza.
“Oh come on!” She yelled as she hopped to the bathroom on her other foot, before washing it off in the shower, the only part of her she would wash, as it was way too late to take a full shower, she checked herself in the mirror, freshening up what little makeup she did wear, usually just some eyeliner. She took another look at herself in the mirror and ran her fingers through her hair, dry sweat matting it down to the point a simple brushing wouldn’t fix, she decided she would cover it up with a beanie. Grabbing a bottle of spray on deodorant, she began to spray it all over herself, trying to drown out the scent of the bar. She went back to her bedroom and grabbed a band t-shirt and a pair of ripped jeans off the large pile of clothes on the floor, tossing them on as quickly as she could before grabbing the boots she threw by her door when she entered last night. She laced up her combat boots, grabbed her hat and keys, and made her way down to her car.
As she ran down the stairs she tripped over the last step and stumbled onto the floor. She let out an angry exhale and slammed her fist on the ground. She laid there for a moment before taking a deep breath and pushing herself back up. She proceeded out of her building and to her car, slamming the door in frustration once she got in. Once in, she put the keys into the ignition and… nothing. Revy cocked an eyebrow and tried again. Still nothing as she kept trying again and again. With everything possible going wrong so far, her eye twitched and she let out a scream in frustration as she punched the steering wheel over and over. Once she finally managed to compose herself, she took out her phone and called Dutch.
“Boss… everything’s going wrong this morning, car won’t start, stepped in pizza, you name it. I’m gonna be a bit, I gotta take the bus in.” Revy started explaining into the phone, hoping for forgiveness.
With a sigh, Dutch rubbed his forehead and began to answer “Revy, we open at eleven. I got crates of records to stock the shelves with. I’ll cut you some slack, but if I have to go ask to borrow Lotton. I’m taking it out on you.” He really felt for her, but he also really needed to run his business.
“Oh god, Lotton? Eugh, I’m on my way… I just gotta get down to the bus stop, should be here in a couple minutes” Revy replied as she got out of her car and began running down the street to the bus stop. She searched her wallet for cash and pulled out a five dollar bill and sat down on the bench, her leg shaking anxiously waiting for it to arrive as she checked her watch.
Revy breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the squeak of the wheels pulling up and entered the bus. “Hey, this bus routes to the mall right?” Revy double checked with the driver. “Yes ma’am, Roanapur Heights into Newark.” The driver affirmed as Revy handed him the five dollars for the ride. She walked to an empty row of seats and breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down, leaned her head back, and waited to approach the mall. Almost a little too comfortable in the bus seat, she snapped her head back up, rubbed her eyes, and let out a yawn. She was in desperate need of something to bring her energy back up. Coffee. That’ll get her through the day…
Making a plan in her head, she decided she’ll hit that Russian coffee house in the mall food court once she gets in, down as much caffeine and sugar as a cup can give her, and hope to God she doesn’t pass out. She pulled out her cellphone and flipped it open, the clock on it read 10:23 AM. She sighed to herself. “Had it really been forty minutes?” she thought before flipping her phone back shut and putting it in her pocket. When she saw the large shopping mall appear down the road, she pressed the stop button, thanked the bus driver and left. Making her way through to the employee entrance. She punched in on the time clock without even looking at the other employees, and headed out into the mall.
Revy looked down the 3 halls going each direction, and headed to the food court, usually they opened before everything else to let employees get a bite before the customers came in. She approached the coffee house, a cafe a bit larger than the other stalls, having it’s own interior seating, the big sign on top of the entrance reading Cafe Moscow. She began to wait in line for the two people ahead of her and once she got up she finally got to make her order
“Medium hot coffee, milk and two sugars” She ordered as the barista just sorta stared at her. She couldn’t tell if he was on something or just zoned out. “Hello?” She asked as he continued to just keep staring his eyes wide as if he’d seen a ghost. “DUDE! Are you okay?” She yelled a bit louder than she expect as the barista snapped back to reality and began to put her order into the register
“Right, oh my god, I’m so sorry for zoning out like that.” The barista profusely apologized as he began to make Revy’s order. He filled up the coffee and put it on the counter as well as a donut.
“Oh I just ordered the coffee” Revy pointed out as she reached for her wallet to pull out some cash “And how much do I owe you?”
“It’s on the house… As an apology for the spacing out, and cause you seem like you could really use it. Rough morning?” He asked as he took some cash from his own wallet and paid for her breakfast.
“Buddy, you wouldn’t believe the shit I’ve dealt with getting here…” Revy sighed as she took a few bucks and left him a tip, thankful for the one small relief got this morning and headed out. She headed out and down to the left from the food court to Lagoon Records, a record shop owned by Dutch Roberts since 1992. Who was currently wheeling several boxes of CDs into the store from the back. He looked up at Revy and sighed with relief that she finally made it.
“You were supposed to be here two hours ago.” He scolded as he grabbed box cutter and began opening up the cardboard.
“Dutch, I’m sorry, I totally forgot. Cutlass played a set at the Yellow Flag last night and I completely lost track of time. You know I’m usually on night shifts for this!” Revy did her best to explain her tardiness
“I don’t wanna hear it, just don’t let it happen again. At least you’re here before the shops open. And before I had to call in Lotton…” He sighed with relief, not wanting to deal with the monologues about Laserdiscs or Pokemon or whatever the hell that guy was obsessed with.
“Alright, I’ve already unloaded about seven cases of CDs since I’ve been here. We've got three left, I just need you to stock the jazz, pop, and rock sections. Everything’s already alphabetical, so just grab and stack and make your way down the aisle.” Dutch instructed Revy before handing her the first stack of CDs. Revy just sighed and took a sip of her coffee.
“Holy shit that was good.” She thought to herself as her eyes opened wide. Within twenty minutes the caffeine started hitting her system and she raced her way through restocking the CDs. By 12:30 she had completed every section in the store that Dutch assigned her and was now standing at the cash register, her foot tapping the floor as she drummed with her hands on the counter, waiting for more customers to enter.
“Ughhhh Dutch, I’m bored! No, we haven't had a customer in like half an hour! It’s a Saturday, we usually get tons of people in here! Is it always this slow in the morning?” Revy complained, desperate for something to expend the energy coursing through her.
“Yeah, it is pretty slow today… at least you don’t have to deal with those assholes challenging you to name three songs off the bands on your shirt” Dutch responded as Revy let out a loud groan.
“Ughhh give it time, it’ll happen soon enough. Honestly at this point I might just start wearing Cutlass shirts so I can tell those fucks I’m in the band when they start to challenge me.” Revy began to chuckle imagining the looks on the faces of any idiot that tried to challenge her on her own band.
“Speaking of, how was that show last night? Must’ve been pretty good if you were out till 4 AM, and were able to forget your morning commitments…” Dutch overplayed his disappointment as he crossed his arms and leaned into her as Revy just glared back with a smirk.
“It was fuckin awesome, Dutchie! We played three new songs, all well received, Bao gave us free drinks, and after we all went to the Tick Tock Diner. Dutch, have you ever had a bacon grilled cheese at 3 AM while shitfaced?” “Of course.” “Food of the fuckin gods, I’m telling ya. So I’m gonna say it was worth it. Plus it got me a free breakfast this morning!” Revy detailed the previous nights events to her captivated boss.
Dutch leaned back on the counter and listened intently as he really had nothing better to do right now. Still, he was proud of Revy and her band. In the two years she’s been working for him he’d seen her band grow and go from playing basements and house parties to actual clubs and festivals. He even helped them out by letting them sell their CDs in the store and occasionally let Revy play their music over the store speakers.
“Sounds like a good night, but how did being late get you a breakfast? Dutch questioned.
“Oh the dude at that Russian coffee place felt bad for me or something.” Revy explained offhandedly
“Sofiya ain’t usually one for giving out freebies…” Dutch grinned to himself as Revy raised an eyebrow. All the managers around the mall knew each other well and were mostly good friends. Revy started to hope she didn’t get that guy in trouble.
As the day carried on customers trickled in and out. CDs, players, and records got sold throughout the day. The occasional asshole would try to hit on her or challenge her music knowledge. Sometimes both at the same time. After a couple hours, she went on her break and headed for the food court when a familiar voice yelled out at her.
“HEY REVY!!” Eda’s voice boomed across the food court as she reached her hand up and waved her over. “What’s goin on? You’re never on mornings, I’ve missed you so much around here! It’s so boring with just Rico around…”
“God… do you have to be so loud? I was just about to get another coffee, I’m crashing like a motherfucker right now…” Revy complained as she rubbed her eyes.
“Ah so that’s why you look like hammered shit?” Eda asked rhetorically
“Just shut up and let me get my coffee.” Revy yawned out
“Fuck off, bitch.” Eda scoffed back
“I’m trying to, slut.” Revy said as she got up and left back for the Cafe Moscow. She entered and got back in the line. Once she reappeared she was mildly disappointed to see it was a different barista from the guy who gave her a free donut earlier. This guy was way larger and looked better off in the military than at a coffee joint. She put her order in, same as the last time and left a tip before leaving.
She sat back with Eda and took a sip of her coffee, it wasn’t as good as the last one but it would do. Sighing, she leaned back in her chair and resumed chatting with Eda.
“So, how’s Total Ripoff?” Revy asked.
“Eh, not bad. New shipments coming in for the End of Summer lines, Rico being cute, but annoying, and Yolanda doing her best to undercut every other clothing store in the mall.” Eda replied as she ate her fries.
“So same shit, different clothes?” Revy commented.
“Pretty much. Yolanda also called Lotton in for stocking earlier so we had to deal with his rantings…” Eda complained
“Christ, does that dude work everywhere in the mall?” Revy asked rhetorically.
“Wait, you do know about the bet right?” Eda replied
“What bet?” Revy raised an eyebrow
“Oh my god! You don’t know!” Eda gasped with excitement. “Okay so, you know how Lotton started out last fall right? Well, after he got fired from the first three stores within a week, around Christmas all the managers made a bet with each other that whoever could stand keeping him on the longest gets $2000 and the good parking space next year. Right now I think it’s the Triad Tea owner, Chang, in the lead with, like, 4 months of his hours. Mainly cause Shenhua’s the one person who’s able to stay with him without going insane.” Eda explained. Revy began to laugh at the expense of this poor guy being dragged around the mall.
“So, that’s why he was Dutch’s first option when I was late… speaking of, I gotta go back to the store, see ya later Eda!” Revy told her as she got up and began making her way back to the record shop.
The rest of the day at the record store was rather uneventful, mostly just waiting for her shift to be over at that point. When the time finally came, she punched out, picked up some food from a Chinese place in the food court, and made her way to the bus stop. Her next day was a Tuesday so she had some time to get her car fixed, but she’d worry about that later. Preferably after she showered and got some rest. But for now she’d make her way home and eat dinner.
As she opened the door to her apartment, she put her food down on the coffee table and grabbed a gatorade from her fridge, turned on the AC, and took a seat on the couch while turning on the TV. Olympic coverage, she had forgotten it was that time of year. She left that on, half watching as she ate and pulled out her laptop, she checked her email and saw My Chemical Romance was playing in New York tonight. She wished she could’ve gone but the day was hectic enough without a trip into the city. After her meal she finally got to take a shower, and put on a tanktop and some sweatpants she cut into shorts and finally got to head into bed. She grabbed her CD player, took a copy of London Calling out of the shoebox full of CDs she left by her bedside,put on some headphones and hit play. As the music drowned out the noise of the streets below she reflected back on her day and her mind went back to the one highlight. The nice barista that gave her a bit of relief after the lowest points of her day. With a smile she began to fall asleep as Train in Vain began to play over her headphones.