Toyger: After Hours (closed to joining)

Milk chocolate sounded like a safe choice to go with. If he had liked the actual chocolate itself then there was no way milk chocolate could be a mistake. Yeah, yeah, milk chocolate worked. Time would have to thank Norman later for making the final decision about the chocolate later. It shouldn’t be hard for him to make a decision just on chocolate, but he wasn’t going to worry himself about that right now.

Time took the chocolate when it was given to him, briefly thanking the other man softly before following after him, silent until Norman spoke up.

Time froze when he realized Norman was bringing up the peanut butter. Had...had he really been that obvious about his dislike for it? Had Carol herself caught on? Would she not like him because of the peanut butter thing that he tried to hide? Time struggled to keep these thoughts at bay, but it was clear that he was flustered and finding it hard to think of words to use at this moment.

”I, uh, I just...you know,” he started, mismatched eyes flicking around wildly in a desperate attempt to focus on just one particular thing. ”I didn’t hate it or anything…” Time drew in a deep breath, finally able to slowly bring his gaze up to Norman. ”I guess I’m just a picky eater is all.” That was honestly something of an understatement for him - Time was incredibly picky about his food, though he had never thought he would be picky about peanut butter.

Boston Waldo Walters

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Okay so, for the most part, Boston Waldo just kept getting hit with pillows, but it was okay, he caught a few of them and it wasn’t like it hurt too bad, he had never heard of anyone getting a broken bone from pillows at the very least, and that did make him feel better about getting repeatedly hit in the face with them.

Soon enough, all the pillows and blankets had been transferred downstairs and were ready to be molded into the greatest pillow fort anyone had ever seen. “Is that all of them?” Boston Waldo asked, calling up to his friends. “Come on! Let’s go set it up!”

Even if N didn’t find bets to be something he himself personally enjoyed, he did have to admit that this bet wasn’t the worst one the precinct could have decided upon. Cases were getting solved at a high rate, and that certainly looked good on them. They were proving that the 99 knew what they were doing, even if it took a bet to motivate them as much as it had. Not that they had been struggling to solves cases beforehand, N would say they had a really good team, but it was interesting to see how one single bet changed the way things happened around the workplace.

He had to admit that his prize of pudding didn’t seem as dumb as he originally thought it was when Aria went on to say that it was actually a pretty good prize, one that was actually worth winning. ”I suppose I can’t deny that. I mean, who doesn’t like pudding?” Probably a good amount of people, but N wasn’t here to get the exact number of that. ”What would you bet if you were involved?” He then asked, curious to find out what Aria found valuable enough to put on the line in something like this. Everybody would have something different, and N couldn’t deny he was curious about those differences.

Time was beyond relieved when they had finished shopping. He had never been big on shopping - too many people around, too many choices to make, just too much of everything really. He knew it was necessary, especially right now in his current situation, but if he could help it he would usually avoid shopping unless he absolutely needed to.

It wasn’t until he walked back into the apartment that he even realized he had been tense the whole time they had been out. It wasn’t a surprise to him given how anxious going out and shopping tended to make him, but he hadn’t realized just how stiff he had gotten until now. At least he could finally relax. He deserved that much after a long day out.

As Norman spoke up about TIme not being picky with clothing, he couldn’t help but let out a faint laugh, not finding the comment to be anything more than just fun. ”Even I can understand that being picky about clothes is a little much,” he commented. He soon realized that there was a possibility his words could be taken wrongly, and he quickly added, ”I mean, I get it if people have their own sense of style and want to look a certain way, I just...I just don’t think I personally need to worry about that.” Clothes were clothes, and while there were things that Time wouldn’t wear, he was content with most things that were easy to come across and cheap to get, he wasn’t high maintenance when it came to clothing.

A week. It had been a week since Norman had allowed Time to crash at his place, and it was at this point that he was starting to feel a little antsy. Flighty even, like he was a bird stuck in a cage full of lizards but couldn’t get away because his wings had been clipped. Not that he felt trapped here at Norman’s, he just felt kind of useless, and he wasn’t used to staying in one place for this long ever since running away. The longest he would stay somewhere was maybe two nights, but that was it. Now he had stayed at Norman’s for a week, and if he was going to stick around then he really needed to start pulling his weight around. He needed to show Norman that he had made a good decision in letting him stick around even if it was only just until Time could go out on his own and actually survive rather than take what little shelter he could find on the streets.

Time was pulled out of these thoughts when he heard Norman’s voice pipe up from the kitchen. He had been aware that Norman was in there, but it didn’t hit him until just now that Norman was digging through the fridge to find something for them to eat. That should have been something Time had thought of since eating was a big thing in this apartment, but it hadn’t crossed his mind until just now.

Oh, eggs. Eggs weren’t bad. Time actually really liked them for some reason. ”Yeah, eggs are good. They don’t really look that much like mushy brain parts.” As soon as the words left his lips he froze, realizing how sketchy that had to sound, and what sucked was that, while he was going to try and fix this little mistake of his, he was sure Norman had already caught on to it. ”I mean, I don’t think they look like brains. Eggs are eggs, they look like eggs, not brain, not that I’ve ever seen a brain before, I just...ya know,” he stopped, hoping there wouldn’t be any questions about all that or any suspicion at all about what he had just said about eggs not looking as much like brain as people thought. ”But yeah, I do like eggs,” he reiterated, as if that would help keep Norman’s mind off of everything he had said prior to that.

For the slightest of seconds there Time thought he had been caught. He was so sure Norman was going to say something about how fishy his statement about brains had been and then he was going to be questioned, and not only just questioned by roommate Norman, but questioned by detective Norman, and for as much as Time thought he could keep himself from saying something about any of his experience with brains, he knew it wouldn’t take him but a few minutes before he was a stuttering mess and going over each brain encounter he had ever had. It would be awful, and then he’d put himself and his family in a lot of trouble.

Honestly, this would be so much easier if he had been taken in by anybody that wasn’t a detective. It was just his luck that he had.

His panic was short lived, luckily, and he was soon able to relax, letting out a faint sigh as Norman went on to mention how breakfast would be ready soon, and then went on to say something about his brother and a donut job.

Oh right, a job. Time had been keeping a lookout for any job openings anytime he had gone out of the apartment and into the city, but he was sure most places wouldn’t hire somebody like him. He didn’t exactly carry around any actual identification on him either, and he was sure that would cause some problems, but maybe if Norman’s brother worked here and put in a good enough word for Time, then he could manage to squeeze his way into a job there. ”I don’t really have any doughnut making experience, but it sounds like fun. Is it a busy place?” He then asked, wondering just how active of a job it would be. Time knew he needed to take whatever job he could get, and he knew his options were insanely limited, but he’d still like to know if this was a job he could mentally handle just as much as he could physically handle. He would do his best to not let his social anxiety get in the way of him doing well, but there was only so much he could handle at the end of the day.

Okay, Time could handle that. It wouldn’t be hard to work somewhere that didn’t have a whole lot of constant traffic, but instead was only busy in the mornings. That would be easy, especially once he got the hang of it.

If he got the job, that is.

Time could name a million different reasons for why he wouldn’t get this job, or any job, but he was going to simply focus on just this one right now before his brain exploded. Even if Norman’s brother could put in a good word didn’t mean he would exactly get the job. Time was sure there were a lot of other hurdles to get through before he was given the whole “you’re hired” speech. His main concern was identification, but now Norman had placed yet another concern on his mind.

Experience.

Rather than look at Norman Time glanced over at the scrambling eggs. It seemed easier to talk to the eggs than Norman right now, especially since the chances that an egg would make fun of him for his lack of experience was lower. Unless there was some cruel egg out there that would make fun of him, some wicked egg that would write down all of his mistakes and make some story out of it. With Time’s luck he could see that happening. ”I, uh, I haven’t,” he responded after a moment, still looking at the eggs. The most work experience he had was probably “helping” his family, but he was sure that sort of experience would automatically disqualify him for the doughnut job. ”How bad would it look if I didn’t really have any work experience? I mean, I guess I had to sorta help with my family and what they do, but that wasn’t anything like a doughnut shop.”

Hearing that his potential place of work didn’t often do background checks lifted an immense amount of stress off of Time. He instantly felt lighter, like he had sprouted wings and was suddenly able to fly as if he weighed little to nothing. Of course, there was that small itch in the back of his head that was telling him that he’d be the unlucky one selected for a random background check, but for once he was able to set aside his worries with relative ease. Maybe it was the fact that he could focus on the cooking eggs, or maybe just because he was so relieved at hearing that statement that for once he could just relax rather than internally die.

Though if there was a random background check on him Time wasn’t sure how he could even begin to explain anything that they might find on him. Then again, he wasn’t giving out his real full name. He was already pushing it by giving out his real first name, anything beyond that would just be him asking to get arrested.

All of that was pushed to the side when Norman finished up the eggs and handed some over to Time. He took the plate with a quick “thank you”, about to dig in when he stopped himself from doing as much when he realized that there was a utensil there for him to use for a reason.

Normal people didn’t use their hands to eat eggs.

Hoping that Norman didn’t notice him about to just scoop a handful of eggs into his mouth, he quickly changed tactics to eat them correctly, but in an attempt to hide his almost mistake, he looked over at the detective with a question lingering on the edge of his mouth.

”So why are you doing this?” He asked, curiosity clear in his words. ”I mean, helping me and everything. Is this just something you do for fun or…?” He trailed off, looking down at his plate of eggs for a moment before looking back to Norman. ”I don’t want to come off as ungrateful or anything, I’m really appreciative of what you’ve done for me, but I am curious as to why you’re putting so much effort into me.” Not just anybody would pick up a homeless guy and take them into their house like some stray dog. It took a special kind of person to do that, and while Time could say Norman was special, he didn’t understand what Norman saw in him that made the detective believe Time deserved all this kindness and charity.

That made Time feel a lot better hearing that this was something Norman did frequently. Maybe he didn’t help runaway homeless people specifically, but this wasn’t a case where he looked at Time and just randomly decided to start doing good deeds for others. This was just Norman being Norman, and that made Time feel better about this. Made him feel not as guilty about it all.

As Norman went on to talk a bit about his encounters with some jerk named Zayden, Time listened while eating more of the eggs - with a fork this time. He wasn’t some barbarian, he had some manners, he knew how to use silverware.

After a moment and a bite or two of eggs later, Time threw in his own words. ”That...that does make me feel better. Not that I feel good about you having to deal with jerks,” he quickly added, ”but that I’m not some special chosen one or something like that. That’s too much to handle, I wouldn’t want that.” But luckily that wasn’t the case here and Time could rest easy that at least he didn’t have to worry about that.

Being on the same level as some kind of giant squid from space gave Time an odd sense of comfort. He didn’t have to worry about being somebody worthy of Norman’s time and generosity, he could just be who he was. He didn’t have to go above and beyond to prove his worth or anything like that, he could just be his own person. Sure, he did want to prove that he was worth all of this, but not in the sense that he was some special chosen one, no, he just wanted to make good on everything Norman was helping him with. He wanted to get this job and do good at it. He wanted to start saving up money so that he could eventually get his own place and be able to support himself. He wanted to be somebody who was self sufficient, somebody that Norman could be proud of and feel okay with having helped out at. Maybe that would take a while, but TIme was willing to put in the effort.

He quickly finished up his food, not wanting to let any of it go to waste. Once he had finished he looked back over at Norman. ”Alright, I’m ready. The eggs were good, by the way,” he added, feeling weird if he never said anything to compliment the breakfast Norman had made for them both. Considering how picky he was Time did like to let somebody know when he did actually enjoy food. There wasn’t much he liked, so when there was something he enjoyed he wanted it to be known and kept in the record so that if they tried to make him food again, they’d have an idea on what to make him.

The nerves had finally hit him.

As soon as he had gotten out of the car they had gotten for the ride over, Time had been slapped in the face with a nervousness he couldn't quite shake. Realistically he knew this wasn't something he needed to be this worked up over, but looking up at the shop, he couldn't help but feel the storm of butterflies in his stomach. People asked for jobs all the time, this wasn't anything over the top, but Time had never done this before, and his case was a little different than what was normal. He wasn't sure what types of questions would be asked or what he would even have to give in terms of background information, but it was the unknown that was frightening him. But he knew he needed to do this. This was his chance to try and start a new life for himself, he just...he just had to get past this hurtle.

Time took in a deep breath. He felt like a bird without wings going into this, but it needed to be done. 

It took him a moment to start walking inside, a few paces behind Norman, but he managed it. That was step one, he supposed - walking inside what would hopefully be his place of work by the end of this.

New places always left Time on edge. Sure, he was pretty much in a constate state of “on edge”, but environments he had never been in before certainly pulled that nervous energy out of him even more than other things. He knew he needed to act calm and professional, but he was looking around the place, scanning each and every thing. He needed to get some kind of mental map of the shop copied down in his mind just so that, on the off chance something happened, he would know where to go and what to do.

He was pulled out of this when he felt Norman’s hand grab him by the wrist and pull him over to an empty table. Time allowed himself to be brought forward, all the while telling himself that he couldn’t let his jumpy nerves get the best of him right now. He needed this job, and somebody who looked like they were skittish wouldn’t get the job.

Though, it didn’t take long for Time to feel like he had already messed things up.

Ty’s gaze had him frozen in place. He sat there, rigid, looking at Norman’s brother, knowing he needed to say something, but the words were lost. He needed to shake himself out of whatever this was. He needed to speak up. He needed to say something. He needed to not look like a complete idiot.

After what had to be at least a minute, Time was able to just barely find his voice, and when he spoke up, he knew immediately that this interview was going to end up with him being rejected. ”Tell you about myself…? Like...what sort of specifics?” Yeah, this wasn’t going to go well for him. Time doubted the interviewee was allowed to question the interviewer, so this was going to go absolutely terrible.

Okay, alright, Time could answer those questions. Ty didn't seem to be asking him about his past or anything like that, just mostly basic things. It was probably better to tell Ty a little bit about himself in the sense of where he came from and whatnot, but that...that just wasn't something Time was willing to talk about. The most he'd go for is mention his sisters and the fact that he had a mom and dad. That was it for him. 

Shaking himself out of these thoughts before he lost himself to them, Time focused his attention back in on Ty. "Well, I don't really have any job experience," he started, already feeling like he was off to a weak beginning with this. By now he probably should have job experience what with his age and everything, but he never had to really worry about back when he had been with his family. He had been expected to go into the business his parents were a part of, and he had wanted to do that, wanted to make his parents proud and help them out, but...he had learned it just wasn't for him. "I do have celiac disease, so uh, probably not the best thing to have at a doughnut place, but..." He trailed off, not exactly sure where he was going with that. He wanted Ty to know that he'd do whatever was needed of him, but his body held restrictions on him that he sometimes wished he could control. 

Slowly Time was starting to adjust and get a bit more comfortable. He wasn't off the edge or anything like that, but he was able to relax some of the tension that had settled in his muscles. "If I'm being honest, I need the money, and Norman mentioned this being a good place to start." He glanced a quick look over at his now roommate before looking back to Ty, briefly hoping that he wasn't ruining everything by what he was now saying. "And I don't know much, but I'm ready and willing to learn. I'll give it my all." If anything Time was sure of that. He'd do his best and give it his all, and he hoped Ty believed him. Not getting this job wouldn't be the end of the world, but it would mean a lot if he could secure a job this early on in the search.