The morning was oddly nostalgic. A cool dark sliver of late-October pre-dawn still blanketed the familiar streets and shopping centers as they passed by Justin’s window. He glanced at the woman in the drivers seat. His mom looked tired. It was a default state he was used to. Long before he’d gotten his car he could remember trips like this when it rained during younger grades or when she had to drop him off at some appointment before heading off to work. It was comforting, and at the same time the raw anxiety of the situation still gnawed at the young otters gut.
“You got your phone charged?” Meredith looked down at the spider web of cables coming from a cheap USB jack rammed into her cars cigarette lighter.
Justin pulled one of the cables free of his phone and checked to be absolutely sure. He then looked up at her and nodded solemnly.
“Good. You’re gonna call me when you’re done for the day. If I don’t pick up-”
“Just leave a voicemail. I remember.” Justin sighed “You know I could have just driven here myself.”
Meredith glanced down at her son. The woman wasn’t much taller than him. She wasn’t even that much bigger anymore. Still in spite of the fact that anyone who looked at her would know she was an otter, she still carried more than a bit of the grizzly bear looks from Justin’s grandmother. Enough that it tended to warn people of her sharpish nature even before she had a chance to make any real impression. That gaze was always enough to put down any lip, and even though he hadn’t gotten it in a while Justin knew better than to speak up further.
“This isn’t fun times away from school, Justin.” Meredith sighed “Your dad thinks that it’ll be better for you to be out of the house and working instead of sitting around watching netflix all week.”
He coulda just given me more work at home.” Justin shrugged
“And you could have half-assed it and driven around town all day. This way if you try to blow the job off I’ll at least have someone to ask about it. Plus it’s far enough from that game shop of yours that I’ll know if you head over there.”
“I could always just run out there and back.” Justin snarked wryly. The look on his mothers face sent him shrinking back into the passengers seat as he rolled down the window once more and took a few gulps of the chill air.
They pulled up behind a simple looking building tucked away amidst a row of storefronts Justin must have passed a million times in his life, and yet never once actually bothered to observe. A massive garage shutter hung half open revealing a large open space with three bike lifts set haphazardly amid rows and lines of tape laid out along the floor.
Justin turned to open the door, then paused when he felt his mother grabbing him by the wrist. He felt a couple of bills being slid into his hand and looked up at her confused.
“In case your boss takes you out to lunch, or orders in. If she doesn’t then you can call something in, but try not to blow it all. That’s twenty bucks. You don’t need to go nuts.”
“I got it, mom.” Justin sighed. He placed a kiss on the woman’s cheek and pulled himself out of the car, slamming it shut with the familiar half spoken ‘don’t slam-’ hitting his ears even as he did it. The boy winced, then sighed, then gave his mother one last look before walking nervously towards the shop, trying like hell to look as casual and detached as he could. Sure he was failing at it pretty hard.
He looked around the inside nervously. A few bikes sitting in a front showroom which he could barely see though an open door from the office. Justin started to move over to the door, then stopped. Anxiety churning in his gut, the otter boy instead strolled his way back into the center of the shop and started looking over the racks of parts all arranged in something marginally less haphazard than how he tended to leave things in the garage. Minutes passed by as he slowly absorbed the layout of things. Quickly losing himself to the careful and instinctive itemization he knew was bound to come up during his time here.
“Hey, you the kid?”
Justin spun around on heel and just barely avoided falling over. His eyes wide he looked at the woman utterly dumbfounded. The bobcat was tough, though not in the same way as his gym teacher. Wiry rather than squat, with her fur dappled in oil stains and bits of rust.
“You doing ok?” It was only barely a question. The woman had a voice made of cigarettes and gas fumes. The feline sized him up and paced around the otter slowly. Not the slow, sexual examinations of his ‘auntie’, but still just as hard edged. Possibly even colder.
Justin nodded slowly. It took everything he could muster not to bite his lower lip. A girly reflex if ever there was one, and absolutely not something he wanted to let slip with this woman around. “Just kinda zoned out this early most of the time.” The otter muttered with forced apathy.
“Really?” The older woman snorted “Aren’t kids your age in class by now most of the time?”
“Well yeah, but that doesn’t mean I’m awake.” A nervous laugh died on the boys lips. He found himself wandering after the woman like a lost puppy, watching intently as she made her way though the shop towards the corner near the large garage doors he’d come in though. Justin blinked in shock when something hit his chest. A push broom. He hadn’t even noticed her snagging it from the small collection of cleaning tools wedged in place. He looked down just in time to see Jo kick a battered metal dust pan up to his foot, nodding her shaggy mane towards the main floor of the shop.
“If you want to be a smartass, do it after lunch. First thing’s first, I want you to take off that hunk of couch skin you’re wearing, along with anything that’s going to hang off of you.
The otter boy held up his arms proudly and then tilted his neck back, revealing a lack of any jewelry or other items that might get caught in tools or spinning machinery.
“Huh, Tabs told me you had worked in a shop before. I guess that’s something at least.” Jo snorted “At least this way when you fuck up your hand or something it won’t be a rookie mistake. Let’s keep this simple then. You sweep up, then I’ll need you to go around and put away any loose parts around here. If something looks fucked up put it aside and I’ll see if it can be salvaged later. Don’t go making any judgment calls yourself. Help out when you’re told, and don’t ask questions if I tell you to stop doing something. I don’t need you getting hurt because you think you know what you’re doing.”
“Wow, sounds like my dad.” Justin smirked. The smirk quickly faded. His benefactor’s face hardening, causing the knot in his stomach to grow. Justin quickly pulled his coat off and set it on a near by rolling chair. Only then realizing just how cold it was and regretting wearing a sleeveless shirt.
Jo seemed to pick up on the revelation and tussed his hair. “You’ll warm up. Just work hard.” With that the woman started her way back into the front office leaving Justin to begin figuring out just what he was supposed to do.
--------------------
With permission to link his phone up with the nearby Bluetooth speaker, Justin had been able to get at least some distraction out of his painfully slow morning. Three hours in and he’d already gotten a small tour of the shop, what little there was of it, and been put to work giving it a general clean.
It was the same sort of thing his dad would do. The same thing many shop teachers would do. Starting out by showing you can take care of shit. Attention to detail, work ethic. All the things people blathered on about as important when working with your hands. Back in middle school he would have simply shrugged it off as adults being broken records. But if one wanted to stay in a shop it was one of those rules you followed. Right up there with not taking another persons tools and
“Shine your light, into the darkness! And let the storm descend upon you! And I will make you mine!” Justin swished his body side to side, gripping the broom like a mic stand. His heavy boots grinding into the grit and metal shavings now piled up before him. His body trembling as he attempted to exert the notes out, most of them wrong, a few of them cracking as he quickly stopped and gasped in fresh breaths of cold air. The ensuing coughing fit nearly knocking the otter on the floor.
He let the broom drop and made his way towards the rolling chair where he’d thrown his coat. His paw digging through the various pockets, moving with practiced urgency.
“Hey, the fuck?”
The unfamiliar voice caused Justin to jump. He glanced up from his search even as his paw rolled over his key ring for the fifth time in a row. Eyes squinting and narrowing at the figure standing by his pile of swept debris. The bunny looked a bit rough. Cream white fur patched with black splotches and bedecked with furrows and scars. They wore something Justin knew might be a binder along with a midriff cut leather vest. Enough for the otter to drive the ‘she’ out of his mind in place of ‘they’ until he knew better. Also enough to curse himself at the thoughts of Sally Acorn, who lived on in rule34 even long after those who grew up with her had hit their 20s and 30s.
“The fuck are you doing just leaving this here?” The bunny snipped “You think I got the money to get a tooth put back in, kid?”
Justin narrowed his eyes and pushed the inhaler into his mouth, taking a deep hard drag as he puffed the medicine into his maw as menacingly as he could. He instantly regretted this mistake as the foul medicine settled on the back of his tongue. He soon doubled over and caught a cough that racked his whole body. Sour Albuterol causing him to cringe but remain silent.
The bunny gazed at him for another long moment, then tossed the broom to one side and pulled a rolling stool up though the pile Justin had just finished making. Without a word they began to pull open a small box of cables, running one of them into a hole in the frames handlebar.
Once his lungs had gotten to something resembling stable Justin made his way over to the bike and began scanning over the bunnys work area. He watched intently as the lapine ran the cables, checking at least half a dozen times as they went and flossing them though the pipes carefully to make sure they didn’t catch.
Justin slipped up behind the bunny and watched the process earnestly. So earnest in fact that the boy didn’t notice the elbow suddenly impacting into his solar plexus. The blow sending him staggering back while the worker kept at the task with barely a glance back to him.
“What was that for?” Justin grunted as he sucked in a bit of air.
“Stop fucking crowding me.” The bunny muttered “You’re supposed to be sweeping anyways. Not slacking off and hanging around.”
“I thought I was supposed to be learning.” Justin snapped. An icy glare from the bunny stalled him. The last thing he needed was another fight on his hands, especially not with how pissed his parents already were. The otter simply passed her sheepishly and headed over to the broom, scooping it up and resuming his task while doing his best to avoid the rabbit and that icy death stare.
Things continued on like this for at least the next hour. An agonizingly draw out silence cut by whatever classic rock station the full time worker had put on. The otter forced to find things to clean and keep his distance, always reminding himself that the last thing he needed today was conflict.
When the bobcat finally emerged from her office once more she looked tired. The woman paced her way past the bike lifts and out to the back of the shop stopping long enough to snag a half finished pack of cigarettes from one of the tool carts.
Justin put his shirt over his muzzle and went back to polishing down bike lifts, a task he’d taken on out of pure want of things to do. The smoke drifting in was still a bit of an annoyance, as were the occasional glances from the bunny who was now working to fix the cables up to the engine.
“Hey, Newbie.” Jo bellowed between drags. “Come on out here, Job for ya.”
The otter was more than happy to comply. He walked over to Jo, the woman holding out a thick pry bar and gesturing to a wooden box she had apparently pushed in on a set of rollers. Soon enough the box was pried free and the boy looked down at a Harley Davison engine, shiny and new with clinging plastic and foam packed around parts of it, mainly covering those parts that would likely be most visible once the thing was mounted.
“Ok kid.” Jo snickered “Let‘s see if you‘re stronger than some old woman. Help me get this mounted up.”
“Sure thing.” Justin smirked. He reached down and grabbed hold of the protruding shaft while trying to brace the massive weight of the steel and chrome beast against his chest. Every vertebrae in his back and each knee screamed out in agony.
“Come on, Lothar. I thought you were one of those guys who go out dressed as a Viking and swinging swords around? Muscle it up a bit.” The old bobcat smirked wide watching the boy struggle to haul the chrome beast out of its packaging. She waited until he’d gotten it up and nearly stood straight once more before hooking a paw under the other side of the engine and hauling up.
Half a dozen snide comments died on Justin’s muzzle. He followed his new boss’ lead along towards one of the lifts. A bare blue powder coated frame sitting there. The waddling otter boy and the old feline managed to get the engine into place with only a modicum overexertion. Loud clattering metal on metal filling the air as the weight of the thing forced it more or less into place.
“Those things are freaking insane.” Justin muttered
“C’mon tough guy.” Jo smirked “It’s not that bad. Old lady like me can do it after all.”
“You’re worse than Ms. Blake.” Justin muttered though gasps. His whole body screaming pain at him from every strained joint. “So what, you don’t want to put this on a table and fiddle with it first? Like, bore it out or something?”
Jo smirked and glanced the boy over once more. She yanked a chair up to the lift and set to work leaving Justin to walk off the sudden strain he’d put his body though. “Tell you what, why don’t you two head out and nab our lunch. When you get back we’ll see if you know anything about how these engines work.”
“Wait, lunch? You mean it’s already…” He looked nervously at the bunny and then back to his new boss. He wanted to protest, but the smile on her face was enough to assure him she knew exactly how awkward this was going to be. The boy sighed and slumped over to where his jacket lay, pulling it over his shoulders and leaning up against the door going out the garage’s back. “Well, I guess I am a bit hungry.”
--------------------
Second uncomfortable car ride of the day. If there was a bright side for Justin it was the fact that he didn’t have to listen to any of his moms recorded sermons or Max Lucado books. He looked out of the window uncomfortably while they pulled out onto the main road heading though the bustling array of shops and fast food joints that had consumed more of Justin’s young life than he cared to admit.
“So where you buying from today?” Cass muttered flatly.
“I get a choice?” the boy chirped eagerly.
“Oh dear god.” Cass sighed “Look, we’ll get yours first. Firehouse hasn’t texted me back yet. Just tell me where we’re going and what you’re getting. And have your card ready.”
“BK.” Justin noted “Impossible whopper with cheese, Onion rings, Ketchup packets, Large coke.”
“Everyone’s on that impossible meat fad shit, huh?” Cass sighed.
Justin shrank back as they pulled though the drive. He handed the bunny the bill as she placed the order for him and winced when she only gave the bills back in change, the rest slipping into her cup holder along with a mound of other change. Granted he should probably be giving her gas money, if anything. He didn’t want to. He didn’t really want to say anything at this point.
The next few minutes were a drawn out string of uncomfortable silence. Cass glaring at him now and then between glances to ensure some idiot driver didn’t T-bone them. A reasonable precaution given how people seemed to drive when this close to the highway. The car finally pulled up along side the strip mall where the rabbit’s food was supposed to be. They looked at the phone intently for a few long moments. Glaring with starburst-hazel eyes as if force of will alone would cause the text to pop into existence. It didn’t, naturally, and soon Cass slumped back down into the drivers seat biting back the edges of a frustrated scream.
“You can eat, you know.” Cass finally muttered “I mean so long as you don’t make a mess.”
The assurance came off more like a demand. Justin was hungry enough, and even more thankful to have an excuse for the silence. He devoured several of the onion rings at once while keeping his eyes down on the floor mats. Pausing only long enough to take a few pulls on his drink.
“You, uh, been doing this long?” The words were unwelcome. Justin had no idea where they came from. He winced as the spoiled reprieve shattered and he felt the rabbit’s eyes slowly turning over to glare at him with icy hate.
“Long enough.” Cass shrugged
“Oh.” Justin nodded. “I mean, it’s a pretty cool job though, right?”
“It’s a job.” Cass said flatly.
“Well yeah but, some jobs suck more than others, right?” Justin felt his heart racing. He knew he was digging a hole, yet each time he tried to stop new words pried themselves from his muzzle. Some part of his brain demanded that he open his sandwich now and just ram a big mawful in even if it might get the car dirty, just to shut him up. That part seemed to detach from the rest, leaving him sitting there in confusion and shifting side to side uncomfortably while the bunny’s eyes slowly moved towards him.
“It’s a job.” Cass finally snapped “Not some day care for a fuck up hothead to collect a check while waiting for school to let him back in. Don’t look at me to make your little vacation easier on you just because the idiots haven’t figured out that school is the fucking punishment.”
The otter boy slumped. His whole body going limp as he gazed at the woman in stunned silence. Watching her over the brim of his glasses as she went back to work. “Why do you even care?” he muttered “It‘s not like I’m slowing you down or anything just by asking a few questions. What‘s your problem, anyways?”
“Because maybe some of us have a partner! Maybe some of us have kids on the way.” Cass grumbled as her eyes narrowed “Maybe the economy is shit and some of us need the extra hours. Which is really fucking hard when boss lady barely has the hours to give out. Because nobody is buying luxury items outside of wealthy assholes who can drive down to Arizona and buy ugly ass shit from some washed up assholes like Paul Yaffie.”
“Wait.” Justin blinked “The guy who lost to Indian Larry?”
Cass quirked a brow and leaned in. The bunny snorting a bit, something between a mocking laugh and a rage-filled scoff. “Yaffie wasn’t good enough to shine Larry’s fucking shoes. Fuck yes he would have lost against him. Not the point. The point is you’re taking food out of my mate’s mouth and that’s not cool when she’s eating for three.”
“Why the hell did your boss take me on then?” Anger and choking shame both caught in Justin’s throat as he glanced up at the bunny. He felt himself bristle a bit in spite of himself, gripping the sandwich a bit harder, nearly squashing it with the restrained anger.
Cass wrinkled their nose and snapped bitterly, leaning back into the seat once more and grinding a paw into the steering wheel. “Because Tabs asked her to. She’s a fucking soft touch, that’s why. Tabs says you need a little discipline. I kinda figured that was some code word until I heard you got your ass beat trying to take down a kid twice your size.”
“It wasn’t that bad.” Justin snapped “Fucking coward’s friends were around. He started it anyways going after Collin like that.”
“I don’t’ give a fuck what he said to your boyfriend, kid.” Cass grumbled “You couldn’t keep yourself in check and your ‘punishment’ is to take fifty five bucks outta Jo’s pocket every day to stand around watching me and act like a glorified roomba. Don’t try to feed me a line about how useful you can be, either. You’re there to learn and we both know it. So why don’t you just stop trying to buddy up to me and let me do my job without getting in my way. You wanna learn something, ask Jo. Maybe she’ll have the patience to help you out. Me, I got a family to think about.”
With that, Cass pulled herself out of the car and started marching herself into the sub shop without giving so much as a second for him to reply. Justin simply sat there, stunned. The boy slumping and rolling his head back into the seat, totally lost for what to say.
--------------------
Justin looked at the text on his phone again and sighed. He should have been happy. Mom told him to just head out to the mall and she’d pick him up. A few hours ago that probably would have been music to his ears. Or eyes. Something.
“You doing ok, kid?” Jo’s gruff voice echoed into the empty shop. The older woman leaned up against a wall and glanced down at Justin, a small smirk on her face. “First day of real work usually kicks your ass. All the old timers like to pretend you kids today don’t have any work ethic. They tend to forget when they were starting out and had to be carried by everyone else.”
He smiled at the platitude. That’s what it was, he knew that. The boy shoved his phone back into his pocket and let out a small sigh as he looked up into the grey sky. “You know you don’t have to pay me for this.” Justin mumbled softly.
“Yeah I do.” Jo said firmly “You’re an adult. You put in the work, you get paid. You do a shitty job, you get fired. That’s how work, well, works.”
“Yeah, but I don’t need it.” Justin sighed “Plus this is supposed to be punishment.”
The way Jo rolled her eyes it seemed that she was about to separate her retinas. A surprisingly heavy paw thudded on Justin’s shoulder, nearly knocking him over. “Jesus Christ I didn’t think you were this big of a masochist. Though I guess if Tabs referred you it shouldn’t be that big of a shock.”
“I’m not…” Justin blushed and narrowed his eyes a bit
“Kidding. God, I’m kidding. Look, taking a whole week getting you up to speed ain’t so bad. But if I couldn’t swing a hundred bucks a week to keep you on for how long I can, you think I’d be offering it in the first place? Hell, if I’m that tight on money then I’m in serious trouble to begin with.”
Justin nodded a bit and tried to compose himself. The blush on his cheeks hadn’t gone away, and it was making him that much more agitated. “if it was, though, you’d tell me right?”
“Getting enough work to make sure Cass has her extra hours isn’t exactly reliant on the shop boy sweeping up or not, kid. Hell, teaching you might actually net her a bit more even if she doesn’t get that yet.” Jo smirked and glanced back into the shop. The bunny had already gone to work on the big frame, looking it over and grinding off any spots where the welds may be a bit thick. “She’s meticulous as fuck. Though at least our painter likes it. Truth is Cass is worried. She’s always worried. Times are tough all around. I mean, fuck that’s why you’re here now isn’t it?”
“I mean it could help with college, yeah. And worst case scenario give me a fallback.” Justin muttered as he watched the angry bun at work.
“Yeah, not sure about that one. Cass’ girl has a nice big stack of college debt and nobody’s hiring right now. Least not in anything that would put a dent in it or justify a pregnant mom heading out of the house. College’s fucked, kid. Job market’s fucked. You can turn a wrench right then odds are good its’ your best shot keeping you and your girl off the streets.” Jo looked down at him and sighed, tussing the boys hair. “Oh, don’t look at me like that. Tabs filled me in on some things at least. You wanna play big strong provider man then you’re going to need to bust your ass ‘and’ have as many ins as you can get. Otherwise you just end up slinging grocery bags at Meijer or burning out in a fast food joint working just as hard as you would here for half the pay.”
Justin swallowed and looked at Cass again. The priggish and standoffish woman he’d met not six hours ago suddenly seeming softer. Her rough edges looking less like barbs and more the frayed ends of someone wringing themselves dry. Jo’s words echoed in his mind and seeped into his gut forming a small pit.
“Feels… kinda fucked up.” The otter boy finally sighed.
“Life is fucked up.” Jo shrugged “You just have to enjoy shit when you can and try not to make things worse. There’s only so much you can control in life, and a lot of it you only think you control because that’s how we’re all wired.” The older woman smirked and sighed. She cast her eyes on the dejected boy and then nudged him a bit “If it’s any consolation, shit’s probably not gonna get anywhere near as bad for you as it is for Cass. Never mind what Tabs and the rest of us got up to when we were your age. I just don’t want you thinking like this is punishment or something. You’re here to work because Tabs said you’re good enough to give you a shot. That’s how jobs work. Come in, do your job, try not to intentionally piss me or Cass off and you’ll be fine.
