Chapter Text
Monday, 05/17/2175 10:34:26
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“Hey Brian?”
“Yeah Jake?” Brian glanced up at him from where he was filling out a report, feet propped up on the desk while he leaned back in his chair. Jake was frowning as he stared across the room, absently scratching at the stubble on his cheeks.
“You ever notice that J is always eatin’?” Jake asked and Brian frowned in confusion.
“... What?”
“Yeah man, every time I’ve seen them today, they’re eatin’ somethin’.” Jake made a small gesture towards the other side of the room and Brian glanced over, frowning as he noticed J tossing a wrapper in the garbage before starting to replace the bulging bag.
“... so?” Brian asked and Jake shrugged, slumping in his chair.
“I’m just sayin’. It’s weird.” Brian shot a deadpan look over at the younger man.
“You’re weird.”
“Ah, shuddup.”
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Brian didn’t mean to notice. He didn’t want to notice. But ever since Jake brought it up, Brian was noticing the fact that J seemed to always be eating. The past three times he had passed by where J was working, he would see them working one-handed while chowing down on a snack bar, or throwing away a wrapper from a different snack bar, or pulling out a bag of chips from their cleaning cart.
Jake was also noticing and had brought it up with the other guards he patrolled with. They would bring it up with others who would also start noticing. The guard break room now had a list on the whiteboard. It was full of dates + times and corresponding snacks. Brian hated it, even as he added his own observation to the board: “5/19 13:47 - Nature Valley Peanut Bar”.
“Has anyone seen J take a lunch break?” One of the younger guards, Jason, asked curiously. The others in the room paused, frowning as they thought the question over. After a long moment, Brian sighed and shifted over to a clear part of the whiteboard and started a chart of 30-minute intervals.
“If you see J working in the interval, mark it. J should be getting an hour-long lunch break so this should tell us what time they’re taking their lunch.”
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J wasn’t taking their lunch break.
Brian stared at the whiteboard, hating the conclusion the full column of x’s was leading him to.
J was constantly eating because they weren’t getting their lunch break.
Brian frowned as he thought back to the several times he had seen J that day. Every time, J had been working. Even when they were eating, they were working.
“Holy shit, how much work does J do?” He muttered under his breath.
“A lot.” Brian almost jumped out of his skin at the gruff voice that answered him from right behind him. Whirling around, Brian scowled at the older man who just chuckled at him. Ron, who Brian now recognized as he glared at the unrepentant man, stepped up next to Brian and eyed the different charts on the board, whistling lowly.
“What?” Brian asked, eyes narrowing at the older man, suddenly wondering if Ron knew something they didn’t. Ron had been working here longer than any of them after all.
“Didn’t realize t’was as bad as that. Still remember the time J took a week for vacation.” Ron chuckled and shook his head. “HR had tah hire eight temps tah take their place, on top of the two per day they got ta come in from the weekend shift. J still had tah pull overtime after they got back tah clean everything up tah standard.” Brian stared in shock at Ron.
“... there are more than two janitors on the weekend shift?” Brian finally asked, his mind whirling with questions and Ron snorted.
“Yup, and despite there being five of 'em on the weekends, J’s hardest day of cleaning is always Monday.” Ron grinned at the flabbergasted look on Brian’s face. “Yeah, yer startin’ tah get it kid. J’s a legend and we don’t deserve ‘em.”
Ron sauntered away, chuckling some more as Brian turned back to staring blankly at the board, mind whirling with what he had just learned about the mysterious janitor.
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“Okay, so, I was watchin’ J, right? And they just, pulled a bag of beef jerky out from one of the fire extinguisher cases!” Jake exclaimed to a group of guards who were seated around the break room, eating their lunches.
“We are not stalking J to figure out all their secret stashes.” Brian stated firmly, pointing a finger at Jake and frowning seriously.
“I dunno Brian, could make a good betting pool, ya know? Have people put in for or against different weird locations and see if we can figure out which are actual stash locations and which aren’t based on what we all observe or can get J to verify. No harm in it, just good fun.” Josh piped up, getting some agreement from the others and making Brian groan and shake his head.
“I ain’t getting involved in this.” Brian finished up his sandwich and got up, heading out of the break room while the others huddled together to figure out how to add this type of bet to the betting pools.
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Brian’s face was set in a grimace as they fired in three-pulse bursts down the hallway, the screeches from the escaped Xenos echoing in ear splitting counterpoint to the pulse-gun blasts from his squad’s weapons. After several minutes, the screeches died down and Brian carefully scanned the now quiet hallway, eyeing the still, black corpses that were destroying the floor with their acidic blood.
“Friendly, don’t fire.”
Brian struggled not to jump at the sudden and unexpected call, noting to himself who on his squad were unable to suppress their surprise even as he peered down the hall to the far corner.
“Heard. C’mon out.” He called back and blinked in surprise as J stepped out from the corner, a fire axe resting against their shoulder as their other hand rested on their hip. He watched as J looked at the mess in the hallway and visibly let out a hard sigh.
“I just mopped this hall too…” He heard J grumble, followed by a snort of suppressed laughter from his right.
“You alright J?” He called and J looked up from contemplating the bodies and acid damage.
“Yeah, you?”
“Yeah, heading towards the labs. Behind us should be clear.” J nodded and started making their way down the hall towards them, casually stepping over the spreading acid. They paused about half way down and opened an electrical panel on the wall. Brian’s mouth fell open as they pulled out a box of breakfast bars, opening it and pulling out a handful that they distributed into their tool belt and pockets before closing and putting the box back and closing the electrical panel again.
I don’t remember that location being on the list. He thought and hated himself for thinking it.