Chapter Text
There was something hiding outside his window, he knew there was. It sat crouched outside his window watching him with narrowed eyes, clawed fingers on the sill.
Scott knew it was there, he knew he wasn’t imagining it.
He’d told his roommates, and they’d pointed out that while it was a ground floor apartment, it was just a bush out there, the branches reaching into view.
But it wasn’t, he knows its not because it’s there and it watches him.
But no one believes him.
He thought of covering his head with a pillow or blanket to pretend it wasn’t there, but then he wouldn’t know if the thing had decided to climb in through the window, so he watched it back until the exhaustion overtook him.
All that is to say, Scott was already having a pretty weird time even before finding a man in his bedroom.
He was just getting home, planning on showering, getting comfy, and sleeping until the sun set, at which point he would watch the thing outside his window with wary eyes and try to distract himself with a book or tv show.
He didn’t get to do any of that. Instead, upon entering his room he saw a man.
Scott recognised the man, they both frequented a nearby coffee shop. even though they’d never spoken he’d always found the guy strange, dressed in a cartoonishly oversized winter coat, cargo pants and boots to match.
He knew the guys name, or at least the one he attached to his coffee orders, Jimmy.
He didn’t say the name out loud, that would seem weird, they’d never spoken. though, the guy was already in his room, so maybe weirdness wasn’t what he should be worrying about right now.
Probably Jimmy was holding a shopping bag, full of canned food, and was in the process of climbing out the window.
“Did you steal my food?” Scott asked, still probably not what he should be worrying about, but the sleep deprivation was starting to get to him clearly, he should ask about getting switched to the night shift at work, so he could sleep all day when that thing wasn’t there.
“Um…no?” Jimmy lied, he was a really bad liar, he pointed to the window “im just leaving”
Scott shrugged, this really was not his problem, even though it was “okay, careful of the thing on your way out”
“The… thing?”
“Yeah, the thing that watches me through the window every night”
“… okay” Jimmy looked concerned, though that didn’t matter much, as he was already halfway through the window and if the thing wanted to get him it probably would have already.
“Go away now please”
“Okay” Jimmy climbed out the window and walked away. Scott watched until he was out of sight, then closed the window and sat down.
That was weird.
—
Cleo yelled at him when he told her there had been a guy in his room that stole their food, so did Pearl and Martyn, but honestly Scott was just relieved it had been a random guy instead of the thing outside his window.
That they still said wasn’t real, but they were wrong.
Another weird thing happened on monday.
Scott stopped at the coffee shop he usually did to get a drink and a sandwich. That was normal, but a little bit after he sat down to eat someone tapped him on the shoulder.
“Sorry about before” a familiar voice said, turning to look, he saw Jimmy, holding out a wad of cash “stores make me anxious so uhhh”
“So you break and enter?”
“Don’t say it so loud!” He whispered, quite loudly actually.
Scott inspected the money, but ultimately decided to just take it “why not give me this before you left?”
Jimmy sat down across from him, which Scott did not want him to do, but clearly now he had no choice “well, i was gonna, but you scared me and i forgot”
“Sorry” He took another bite of his sandwich, simultaneously trying to avoid speaking and to have an excuse to get out of there faster.
A moment passed in silence, and Scott realised that unless he wanted to sit here like this his entire lunch, he would have to talk “so, what made you choose the… life of crime?”
He felt it would be rude to question his fashion choices during what was only their second conversation, maybe he would try to segway into another time, if there was one, he hopes theres not.
“Well uh, stores make me really anxious, so i try to get my food from other places”
“You could have just asked then”
“You’re right I’ll- I’ll keep that in mind… next time?” He pointed to the wad of money sitting on the table “i checked the usual prices for everything and added a little extra for the uh, the hassle”
“…thanks”
Scott counted the money when he got home, it was five hundred, that was a lot more than he’d spent on groceries.
So he left fifty in his wallet and shoved the rest into his pockets to give back at lunch tomorrow.
—
Scott handed the money back to Jimmy after ordering his drink, and sat down in what he hoped was a secluded enough corner to be ignored.
This did not happen.
Jimmy sat down across from him, and handed the money back “i don’t need it”
Scott shoved it back across the table “i don’t either, take it back, use it to pay more for more heists or like, grocery delivery”
“I don’t have a house for them to be delivered to”
That certainly explained… something about him.
“Okay”
Scott left the coffee shop. Taking his sandwich on a walk, because that was more fun than this.
—
The thing watched him again that night, like it always did.
It watched him all week, just like before, but he was starting to get fed up.
When the sun had risen, and he couldn’t see the eyes glowing through the gloom, he climbed out the window, landing mostly on the grass, but just beside the giant shrub that had always been there.
Turning to look at it, he could see that it was hollowed out. Inside he found a nest, with a neat little line of canned foods and a stack of money in cash, some strewn about in the branches and leaves.
Scott heard footsteps behind him, whipping around to see Jimmy, staring at him with a look like he’d been caught in the act of a crime… again.
Jimmy grimaced, and sighed “I’m gonna have to move aren’t I”