|Distant•Connection| {JimmyJrxTina Fanfic}

Working 9-5

Tw: mentions starving yourself/possible eating disorder, and slight degradation. Be warned pals.

--

The boy woke up a little later, feeling like absolute death, to his alarm going off. The blankets that once we're wrapped around him were tossed to the side. He shivered, feeling the cold air nip at his bare skin.

He could hear the pitter patter of raindrops outside, he groaned in annoyance. Jimmy had work today, of course he did! Just his luck. He turned his he to his clock, 8:02am it read shit. He sat up, ruffling his hair to get rid of the bed head he most clearly had. Without much thought, the boy got up and went to take a shower.

He hop in the shower, feeling the hot water rush down his tired body. Jimmy probably could've fallen back asleep standing there, the steam making his eyes drift close, but he couldn't for obvious reasons. Fucking government and their dang bills. After wetting his hair, he picked up the shampoo and begin washing his hair. Once he felt all the hair was covered, he rinse all the suds off then did it a second time. When that was done, Jimmy took the tube of conditioner in his hand and squirted out some of the product on two fingers; spreading it between both hands after placing the tube down and rubbing it all over his hair. Once he rinsed it all out he turned off the water, wrapping his body in a towel then exiting the shower. The skinny boy shivered again, his skin prickling from the lack of outside warmth. He took a smaller towel off the rack and began drying his hair as he went back to his room to get changed. He quickly slipped on a pair of boxer briefs, wrapping the bigger towel around his shoulders, opening his closet door to pick out his uniform. Jimmy grabbed the stiff dress pants and button up he had to wear and slipped them both on. Tossing both towels in the laundry hamper next to his bed, the ginger haired boy huffed as his long bangs flopped in front of his vision.

"I really need a haircut.." he mumbled to himself, throwing a bright red hoodie over his work clothes.

Jimmy normal would straighten his hair in the morning for work, to get rid of the prominent curls, along with putting on some concealer type of thing to hide his also prominent freckles but he didn't have time today. He was running a little late. Majority of people enjoyed the thought of having curls or freckles but he hated them so he only really allows friends to see him with them, he's tried to do it around them but they always notice the difference without fail.

He sighed, walking into the living room after grabbing his phone. He got to the front door, popping on his rain jacket and boots, sliding his phone and keys into his pocket. Jimmy felt his stomach grumble a bit and looked over at the kitchen, he should have breakfast. He anxiously gripped the door knob, feeling his stomach churn and feel sick at the thought of actually eating.

He shook away feeling and exited his apartment, he'll get something at break.

--

The walk to work was relatively quiet, he had one of his Indie playlists blasting in his ears to try and drown out the traffic. Feeling the impact of his feet hitting ground rattle inside his head.

People passed him, in their own little worlds of their own, not even noticing when they'd accidentally bump into him. There wasn't much he could do about it so he tried to tolerate it, even though he felt himself flinch whenever someone nudged him. Jimmy Jr hated feeling weak like this, he shouldn't feel so uncomfortable being outside-especially when he was by himself-he's an adult for fuck sake!

He sighed, stuffing his hands deeper into his coat pockets you're almost there.. he reassured himself as continued to walk down the street.

--

When he got to work finally, after clocking in, he instinctively went over to his locker.

Opening up the locker, he placed his things inside and locked the door. He didn't trust anyone at his work. The boy quickly got to his cash, grabbing a wash cloth and cleaning the belt. A few of his co-workers waved at him, giving an obvious forced smile, he gave them a simple nod before continuing what he was doing. Jimmy Jr didn't particularly like who he worked with, but had to deal with them no matter what. The only two he could really tolerate was this meek girl name Julie, a short highschool student that barely talked to him, and his boss Ash. He was surprised he actually enjoyed having her as his boss, prepared to fake it till he made it to keep the piss poor job, but Ash was an actual cool person. She has a ton of tattoos of insects and mushrooms all over her arms, piercings aplenty-including both face and ear piercings-she was also the only person to work there to have unnatural hair; it was hot pink. It wasn't against dress code to have coloured hair, but it was generally knowledge that you'd be better off getting hired if you had natural. Unless if you were already hired and been working there for a while, employees didn't dare colour their hair any colour other than blonde or brown-besides that one time Jessica showed up with shitty black hair which she ended up shaving off a week later out of hatred.

Speaking of Ash, the woman had begun walking by his station before noticing him and walking over. "Hey Jim! Good to see you in work today." The bigger woman greeted, giving the boy a strong pat on the shoulder. Jimmy was definitely taller than her, by a long shot, but her defined upper body strength and confident personality had him nervous sometimes.

"Hey.." he greeted shyly.

The shorter woman stared up at the boy's face, making him even more nervous, having a confused expression before smiling again. "Trying a new hair style man? I like it! And when did you have freckles? Wait- are they tattoos!" Ash asked excitedly, pointing to his obvious curly hair.

He blushed, wanting to shrivel up and die "no this is my natural status. I usually straighten it for work and I've always had freckles my whole life, I just cover them." He admitted; gripping the rag in his hands tighter.

"What! Why?"

"I just don't like them, I think they look ugly on me personally." He mumbled out, wishing he could for once start helping customers but atlas there weren't any. Just his luck. "That's valid, you can feel how you wanna feel, I think they suit you but you don't have to feel that way." The woman stated calmly, giving Jimmy Jr a warm smile.

"Well I'll let you get ready for work, it looks like you're going to have a customer soon, cya Jim!"

And with that she was gone, leaving Jimmy alone at his cash.

--

It was now break time, Jimmy felt like he was going to pass out. Shouldn't ate breakfast.

After getting a sandwich from the deli and a water bottle from one of the venting machines in the break room, he sat on one of the benches and began munching on his sandwich while scrolling through his phone. No one used the break room so it was usually deserted, especially on Jimmy Jr's shifts since barely anyone wanted them. Meaning the break room was kinda his quiet space at work from all the chaos. It was nice.

He scrolled through him and his friends' group chat: Chaotic Kitchen Show; named after Zeke's amazing cooking ability and Jimmy's and Mat's chaotic energy. Zeke's nickname in chat was "Master Chef🍳", for obvious reasons, Mat's was "dish rag" because he makes the most mess and usually is the one cleaning afterwards and Jimmy's was "burnt water🔥". It used to be something else until he showed his amazing ability to burn literally everything, oddly enough not water though. Well yet, he hasn't burnt water yet.

He's worst moment was when he somehow burnt all around an egg but it was still uncooked, Zeke had to lie down after since it broke his brain so bad. Made Mat wheeze though, so he at least accomplished something that day right?

He took a sip from his water bottle, exited out of the group chat. His two friends were arguing about which was better, pancakes or waffles. Jimmy enjoyed both so it didn't matter to him, but the two were going at it. Hard. Mat preaching for the "pancakes is better" side, while Zeke was on the "waffles are better" side. They had taken a short pause from the debate to have a snack break and the boy wanted to be gone before they decided to push him in the middle of it all. When he exited off, he glanced down at the newest number he had. Tina's. He didn't have a ton of numbers saved on his phone so it wasn't hard to see, he's been fighting the urge to text her since the night they first texted-so not that long but still. He sighed, checking the time before turning off his phone and sitting it back into his locker. His break was over. Taking the last bite of the sandwich, he grabbed his water bottle and headed towards his cash once again.

--

Once he opened the door to his apartment, Jimmy Jr sighed as he slide down the door tiredly. His shift was finally over, thank god..! He thought.

After taking off his jacket and boots, he headed to his bedroom to change out of his work clothes. He sleepily put on sweat pants and a t-shirt, tossing the red hoodie he wore to work back on, flopping on to the bed next to him. He turned his phone on and was met with the one thing he was trying to avoid, Tina. Should I text her? It's only been two days.. he asked himself anxiously, he didn't even know this girl. She couldn't be a mass murder for all he knew.

He sighed turning his phone back off, plugging the charger in and sitting it on bedside table next to him. The boy stared up at the ceiling above him, seeing tiny cracks sprouting across the smooth surface, barely being able to keep his eyes open. He let out a relaxed sigh, a nap could hurt..