Chapter Text
God the day was dragging on, the sun had already gone down and you were still out in town. It should’ve been obvious but handling family business was almost never simple. Regardless of personal wants and desires, you had obligations to handle. No one said being a responsible adult was easy. Most of your day was spent handling someone else’s business, logging complaints and needing to make sure the janitors got paid on time. So here you were, waiting outside a now closed pharmacy waiting for a bus to come pick you up.
As annoying as it was, the meds were needed and you couldn’t just make him go without, even for a little bit. If cash weren’t so tight at the moment you’d have sprung for getting your own car for getting about, but you had to manage the finances properly to keep the government from getting involved.
“Hey, you gonna keep staring into space?”
Now that was a voice you recognized, Jeanne, one of the tenants at the apartment complex you now had to manage. She chuckled as she saw you finally realize she had parked her bike right in front of you.
“Sorry, I’ve been spacing out a lot lately.” You told her honestly.
She shrugged as she put her helmet on one of her thighs. “I get that, running things has got to be a headache and a half huh?” She looked around the street, which was completely empty given the time of day. “You waiting on the bus?”
“Yeah, the old man needed his meds and it’s not like he can make the trip.” You tried to chuckle, but it was clear to her that this wasn’t part of your plan.
“Thought he had them delivered? Mutt forget to go out and grab em?”
“Nah, Mutt’s swamped with a late delivery and I still haven’t gotten around to fixing the spotty wifi, so I couldn’t just pay someone else to pick em up.” You bemoaned as you leaned against a nearby lightpole.
Jeanne whistled in sympathy as she pulled a pack of smokes from her pocket, putting one in her mouth and propping another out of the pack and holding it out to you.
“I-I don’t-”
“Yeah I know, but you look like you're one stubbed toe away from a stroke, even if ya don’t like em, it’ll help get your mind off of things for a minute.” She made a convincing argument. With a sigh you grabbed the cigarette that was sticking out, leaning down a bit as she lit both hers and yours. She took a drag from her, watching as you tried the same, only to choke and sputter out the resulting smoke. Chuckling again as she watched you try and not die, she adjusted herself on her bike.
“Christ, how the hell do you even smoke these things?” You finally managed out after barely surviving your first puff of a cigarette.
“I’ll have to show you sometime, now hop on, I was heading back home anyway.” She finished her own cigarette and flicked the butt onto the road and stomped it with her boot.
“You sure? The bus shouldn’t take too much longer.” You tried pointing out.
“It’s fine, I still owe you for being chill about me missing rent that one time.” She was determined and you weren’t in the mood to argue while looking a gift horse in the mouth. You straddled the back seat of her bike as you steadied yourself. She gave another chuckle as she saw you try and continue the cigarette despite constantly choking on it. She secured her helmet as she undid her kickstand. “Just try and not fall off.”
“I-” You choked on smoke for a moment before continuing. “I used to ride back in the States, ya know?”
She smirked as she looked back at you, revving the bike’s engine. “No kidding?”
“Yeah, but my bike’s with my folks back home, issue with customs apparently.” You griped as you took another puff, struggling to not cough into the back of her head.
“Bueracracy is a unique kind of hell eh?” She asked.
“God! You don’t even know the half of it! Do you know the amount of ordinances I have to consider when I’m trying to figure out how to fix the boiler?!” You managed to groan out as you actually kept from choking out the smoke from your next drag. The wind whipping through your hair as it blew the smoke away.
The two of you laugh at the seeming absurdity of it all. While you never wanted to smoke, maybe it wasn’t half bad, but it may have just been having someone to actually vent your frustrations to that wasn’t your overpaid therapist. The trip was mostly uneventful as you just stared up at the cloudy night sky, the coverage was sparse with some stars peaking out from the darkness. You usually enjoyed watching the night sky, but something was different, it gave you a weird sense of vertigo looking at it. Shaking your head, you decided to just focus on the back of Jeanne’s head so you didn't get thrown off the bike from losing your balance.
Soon enough you both pulled up to the entrance to the parking garage, Jeanne quickly patted down her jacket seemingly looking for something.
“Leave your pass at home?” You asked as you fished your admin pass out of your jacket pocket.
“A damn life saver you are. I really didn’t wanna leave my bike outside tonight.” She grabbed the pass from you and swiped it at the sensor, needing to do so two more times before it actually registered. She gave a small laugh as you groaned at another thing you’d need to fix. She pulled the bike into her normal parking space before she gave the pass back to you.
“Thanks for the ride.” You told her as you fixed your jacket.
“It’s no problem, in fact, here.” She fished out her pack of smokes and the spare lighter she was using. “Not trying to get ya hooked, but it should help ya not give yourself an aneurysm.” You wanted to refuse, but it was a gift.
“Thanks I guess.” You pocketed the addictive gift and finally remembered something that you had thought of a lot earlier in the day. “Say, while I’ve got you, since I’ve already got a list of things that need fixing around here. I’ve been trying to go door to door to make sure I don’t miss anything. Is there anything you’ve noticed that needs fixing?”
Jeanne tucked her helmet under her arm as she pulled her keys from the bike’s ignition. “Uh, the laundry room has been acting up lately, I think two of the washers are broken and at least one of the dryers exploded like last week.”
She watched as you started muttering several swears as you pulled a small notepad and pen from your pocket. “I didn’t know about the washers, but I’m fairly certain some punks are behind the dryer getting trashed. I tried getting the cops to investigate, but ‘apparently’ they’ve been drowning in work lately.” You complained as you pocketed the notepad and clicked the pen away. “I’m more surprised this place hasn’t been condemned for how many things are busted here.”
She clapped you on the back as you both made for the elevator. “Eh, it ain’t that bad, we have hot water, heating, and all that good stuff. Mr. Henderson might fit the grouchy old man look well, but he’s always been on top of maintenance, I guess just a lot of stuff broke all at once and it just makes it look like it’s barely been hanging on.”
“You’re probably right, how the old man managed to find a dedicated crew to keep this place running is beyond me.” You clicked the ground floor button while Jeanne pressed the second floor. You counted your blessings that the elevator was one of the few things nobody complained about. After you and Jeanne parted ways, you made your way to your apartment. Taking out your keys, you opened the apartment and saw your grandfather passed out in front of the TV again. You hung your keys and jacket on the nearby rack, the rustling stirring the old vet awake.
“Easy old man, it’s just me.” You told him as he tried to reach for a rifle that wasn’t there.
“What took you so long. You should’ve been home hours ago.” He grumbled as he struggled out of his recliner. You put the bag of meds you’d bought down on the dining table and went over to him, making sure he got into his wheelchair safely.
“Bus must’ve gotten delayed, Jeanne offered me a ride home.” You told him as you wheeled him over to his bedroom.
“Mmmm, right. Did you at least bring what I gave you?” He asked as he tried to heave himself out of his wheel chair again.
“I already told you I can’t just bring a pistol around with me wherever I go, at least not without a shit ton of documents, you know that.” You responded as you let him get into his bed, going to grab a drink for him to take his meds with.
“It ain’t safe around here! You fiending to get stuck like a pig out there?!” He shouted as you filled a glass with water for him.
“No, but I’m also not trying to catch any charges either!” You shouted back before you got back into his room, he fortunately already had his night meds ready.
“Kids these days.” He grumbled as you handed his water, taking his meds in a single gulp. “Tomorrow, I want you to give a few spare magazines to Harriet, she at least knows to take my warnings seriously. She may have a brat, but that fear-”
“I know I know, I had to stop you from posting shoot on sight pictures of her ex husband, remember? Everyone already knows who to look out for, but sure, I’ll bring em to her first thing in the morning. Just get some sleep ok?”
He mumbled out “yeah yeah yeah” as he turned off his table lamp, throwing the covers over himself as he turned over.
Well, with your grandfather now hopefully asleep, you decided it was time to do the same. Making sure his door was closed you went over to your own room, the former guest room that now belonged to you during your time managing things here. Your lazy cat apparently never left her spot on the end of your bed as you scratched behind her ears. Getting a small and quiet meow from her as you changed into your bed clothes, tossing your day clothes into a laundry hamper to do when you woke up tomorrow. As you finally got under your covers, and stored the smokes Jeanne had given you in your side table, you had only one thing on your mind as you tried to get to sleep.
Your arm was itchy.