Gift!Fic for Emeriin : Pretend Normality
Title: Pretend Normality
Rating: Hooker!verse, but nothing explicit. PG-13, I guess?
Pairing/Characters: JewWario+PushingUpRoses
Randomly generated prompts: “To the laundromat,” and “out to play.” I... may or may not have seen Dr. Horrible recently. >_>
I apologize heartily to JewWario and PushingUpRoses. ILU PLEASE DON’T HATE ME
Belated birthday gift for Emeriin. I’m sorry it took so long and that’s it’s probably not as angsty as it ought to be. ;A; Curse my perpetual optimism! I hope it meets your standards of approval. :3
-----
He’s made his way through the “seedier” (though now normal for him, he notes with a strangely familiar sort of despair) part of town to the laundromat. It’s not the only laundromat in this area, but at least here the place is clean and the guys working don’t alternate between hitting on him (surely he’s not that feminine) and mocking him. He doesn’t want their attention, and he’s very glad that those guys haven’t found out where he works. Yet.
As he dumps the color clothes in the last washer down the line (it’s not like he particularly wants to show off this set of clothes to everyone there) JewWario stops, pulls a tall leather boot from the hamper, and tosses the rest of the clothes in. He shakes his head and sets the boot next to the hamper, close to him so it’s not stolen. Having just one fashionable boot when he showed up to work wouldn’t make the bosses happy at all because the ladies seemed to really like it and who knows what he’d have to do instead of tend the bar that night to make up for it--
“Nice boot,” someone says behind him.
He turns. It’s a pretty girl, vaguely familiar with dark hair layered over dyed red, glasses, and a smile on her face. She’s dressed respectably, and JewWario adds another tally to the “my life is warped” count when he realized that his definition of “normal” clothing for girls is a distinct lack of it.
The girl is still there, waiting for a response. Um. “Thanks?”
She giggles. “Part of a matching pair, I assume? Your lady friend isn’t going to appreciate you taking half of it here, I bet.” She teases.
Okay, JewWario. You can do this. You can make normal conversation with someone. “Yeah. Actually, they’re mine.”
Well, so much for that.
Her eyes widen with interest behind the glasses. “Really? That’d be... interesting to see.”
It’s not mocking or disgust or any number of things. That’s good, right? “They’re part of a costume, really,” he chuckles. “You know Jareth, from Labyrinth?”
“Oooh!” She claps her hands together and eyes him critically. “That would be awesome to see! Oh god, that was one of my favorite movies as a kid! Well, I mean, most girls liked Labyrinth, but you know what I mean. You’d make a great Jareth!”
He actually laughs-- softly, but it’s there-- at her fangirlish enthusiasm. “Thanks, I think?”
“You work at that bar a few blocks down, right? Maybe when you’re done working sometime you could show me your costume?” She asks hopefully, not appearing to realize the way he’s frozen with shock.
He hasn’t made any allusions to the bar in their short conversation, JewWario thinks frantically. She probably hadn’t seen exactly what he’d thrown in the washer, none of the bloodstains that are far too common (and a bitch to clean out) even as just a bar tender. He’s wearing his best “I’m a normal person!” clothes, and--
So is she.
The realization hits him like a, well, leather boot to the head. She’s not wearing the makeup or a slutty version of a school girl uniform, but he’s seen her on the street. Chester had mentioned a nice new lady with red hair (“Like the nice Smurfette lady! Only with red hair and not quite the same.”) giving him change a few times a week. Marz had been torn between rage and curiosity.
She was half his age and cute and smart could have been so much more
but the same could be said for all of them, couldn’t it?
So she’s dressed in normal clothes because hardly anyone buys a hooker during the day and you don’t want to get caught, and they’re both trying their hardest to be normal happy people, she’s just better at it, and she wants to see him dress up as Jareth. JewWario can work with that.
“Heh, sounds like fun. Are you going to be the Sarah to my Goblin King?” He teases, before realizing that it’s probably a very stupid thing to say. He’s got Liz, after all, and the bosses Do Not Approve of having anything to do with workers outside of the bar--
“Eh, I don’t think I could pull off the ‘send my baby brother to you’ bit,” she replied with a laugh. “What with the lack of siblings and all. Can’t I just fangirl as a friend?” The girl grins, then it quickly slips and she claps a hand over her mouth. For a second JewWario wonders if she’s decided that associating with him is a stupid idea after all, but instead she blurts out, “Oh god, here I am asking to hang out with you while you dress up and you don’t even know my name. I’m not a creeper, really.” She adds hastily, “I’m PushingUpRoses.”
“JewWario,” he replies in kind. Roses is still rambling out mortified apologies, and he pats her on the head like the kid she is. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m seventy-five percent sure you’re not a creeper.”
“Only that much?” She laughs, even better at pretending normality than he is.
“Well, I did just meet you.”
“Ah, right. Hey, when you’re done here, wanna go out for coffee?” She offers with a shy smile and a wink. “We can talk Labyrinth and I can try to prove that I’m not a creeper! I’ll buy it~” she adds, probably seeing the conflicted look on his face.
JewWario considers this. He’s been up for several hours already and still has work tonight, so free caffeine would be much appreciated. Having coffee with nice strangers is what regular people did, right? So they could be friends?
“... Sure!”
Rating: Hooker!verse, but nothing explicit. PG-13, I guess?
Pairing/Characters: JewWario+PushingUpRoses
Randomly generated prompts: “To the laundromat,” and “out to play.” I... may or may not have seen Dr. Horrible recently. >_>
I apologize heartily to JewWario and PushingUpRoses. ILU PLEASE DON’T HATE ME
Belated birthday gift for Emeriin. I’m sorry it took so long and that’s it’s probably not as angsty as it ought to be. ;A; Curse my perpetual optimism! I hope it meets your standards of approval. :3
-----
He’s made his way through the “seedier” (though now normal for him, he notes with a strangely familiar sort of despair) part of town to the laundromat. It’s not the only laundromat in this area, but at least here the place is clean and the guys working don’t alternate between hitting on him (surely he’s not that feminine) and mocking him. He doesn’t want their attention, and he’s very glad that those guys haven’t found out where he works. Yet.
As he dumps the color clothes in the last washer down the line (it’s not like he particularly wants to show off this set of clothes to everyone there) JewWario stops, pulls a tall leather boot from the hamper, and tosses the rest of the clothes in. He shakes his head and sets the boot next to the hamper, close to him so it’s not stolen. Having just one fashionable boot when he showed up to work wouldn’t make the bosses happy at all because the ladies seemed to really like it and who knows what he’d have to do instead of tend the bar that night to make up for it--
“Nice boot,” someone says behind him.
He turns. It’s a pretty girl, vaguely familiar with dark hair layered over dyed red, glasses, and a smile on her face. She’s dressed respectably, and JewWario adds another tally to the “my life is warped” count when he realized that his definition of “normal” clothing for girls is a distinct lack of it.
The girl is still there, waiting for a response. Um. “Thanks?”
She giggles. “Part of a matching pair, I assume? Your lady friend isn’t going to appreciate you taking half of it here, I bet.” She teases.
Okay, JewWario. You can do this. You can make normal conversation with someone. “Yeah. Actually, they’re mine.”
Well, so much for that.
Her eyes widen with interest behind the glasses. “Really? That’d be... interesting to see.”
It’s not mocking or disgust or any number of things. That’s good, right? “They’re part of a costume, really,” he chuckles. “You know Jareth, from Labyrinth?”
“Oooh!” She claps her hands together and eyes him critically. “That would be awesome to see! Oh god, that was one of my favorite movies as a kid! Well, I mean, most girls liked Labyrinth, but you know what I mean. You’d make a great Jareth!”
He actually laughs-- softly, but it’s there-- at her fangirlish enthusiasm. “Thanks, I think?”
“You work at that bar a few blocks down, right? Maybe when you’re done working sometime you could show me your costume?” She asks hopefully, not appearing to realize the way he’s frozen with shock.
He hasn’t made any allusions to the bar in their short conversation, JewWario thinks frantically. She probably hadn’t seen exactly what he’d thrown in the washer, none of the bloodstains that are far too common (and a bitch to clean out) even as just a bar tender. He’s wearing his best “I’m a normal person!” clothes, and--
So is she.
The realization hits him like a, well, leather boot to the head. She’s not wearing the makeup or a slutty version of a school girl uniform, but he’s seen her on the street. Chester had mentioned a nice new lady with red hair (“Like the nice Smurfette lady! Only with red hair and not quite the same.”) giving him change a few times a week. Marz had been torn between rage and curiosity.
She was half his age and cute and smart could have been so much more
but the same could be said for all of them, couldn’t it?
So she’s dressed in normal clothes because hardly anyone buys a hooker during the day and you don’t want to get caught, and they’re both trying their hardest to be normal happy people, she’s just better at it, and she wants to see him dress up as Jareth. JewWario can work with that.
“Heh, sounds like fun. Are you going to be the Sarah to my Goblin King?” He teases, before realizing that it’s probably a very stupid thing to say. He’s got Liz, after all, and the bosses Do Not Approve of having anything to do with workers outside of the bar--
“Eh, I don’t think I could pull off the ‘send my baby brother to you’ bit,” she replied with a laugh. “What with the lack of siblings and all. Can’t I just fangirl as a friend?” The girl grins, then it quickly slips and she claps a hand over her mouth. For a second JewWario wonders if she’s decided that associating with him is a stupid idea after all, but instead she blurts out, “Oh god, here I am asking to hang out with you while you dress up and you don’t even know my name. I’m not a creeper, really.” She adds hastily, “I’m PushingUpRoses.”
“JewWario,” he replies in kind. Roses is still rambling out mortified apologies, and he pats her on the head like the kid she is. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m seventy-five percent sure you’re not a creeper.”
“Only that much?” She laughs, even better at pretending normality than he is.
“Well, I did just meet you.”
“Ah, right. Hey, when you’re done here, wanna go out for coffee?” She offers with a shy smile and a wink. “We can talk Labyrinth and I can try to prove that I’m not a creeper! I’ll buy it~” she adds, probably seeing the conflicted look on his face.
JewWario considers this. He’s been up for several hours already and still has work tonight, so free caffeine would be much appreciated. Having coffee with nice strangers is what regular people did, right? So they could be friends?
“... Sure!”