Used to the Cage

A Terrible First Day at Work

Anti's heart rate picked up when a customer walked through the door.

He peeked from behind a bookshelf to view them and Jackie smiled at them, "Hi! Welcome to our shop!"

The customer . . . this man just nodded gruffly and carried on to himself to look around. He had a hoodie with the hood over his head and orange sunglasses to shield his face from view. He looked . . . odd in his movements.

Anti narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously.

Jackie, however, didn't seem concerned at all and gave him a silent look, nodding his head from him to the customer as if to tell him to go talk to him.

But Anti really didn't want to and glared at the hero almost in a pout. Almost.

The glitch swallowed and absentmindedly wanted to rip off the nametag and make a run for it out the door.

But also . . . . Jackie was faster than him.

He took a deep breathe and made a step forward but the man made sure to keep his back turned away from him. It was as if he was silently begged him not to come talk to him.

Anti wanted to throw himself in the trash, 'Why the fuck am I so nervous NOW?! I'm never usually this way! Why's this so hard?! All I have to do is be my normal douchey self and annoy this fucker!'

Easier said than done.

But taking another deep breathe, Anti shook off all the nerves and marched forward. Or rather . . . . stalked.

Jackie was watching and wanted to drag his hand over his face but contained himself, 'Why does he . . . why does he look like he's . . stalking the customer?'

He didn't say anything, though and went back to his game to escape the cringe. If Anti decided to try and hurt this man, Jackie would be on Anti in a heartbeat.

Anti slunk forward and briefly though about scaring the guy but kept himself under control, clearing his throat, "Hm . . . c. . can I help you find anything today . . sir?"

It was hard for him but he managed. The hard part was over now, right?

The man in the hoodie grunted with his back still turned to him, "Uh . . .. N-No. . no, dude, I'm fine." he sounded like he was manipulating his voice or something

'The hell? Is he sick or something?' he thought at first, 'Or is he trying to scout out the place? Planning to rob it?'

He didn't care but his ass was sort of on the line, too. If this creep stole anything, Marvin might just take it out on HIM.

Anti growled under his throat, almost seeming menacing, "Hm . . . . Are you sure? You look to be . . . . stuck . . . perhaps confused on what you're looking at"

"No, bro, I'm not"

Anti nodded, "Uh-huh. . . . you're staring at a book that clearly says 'Kamasutra for Women'." Anti wasn't entirely sure what Kamasutra was but he had a feeling it was dirty. . . for women.

The man made a high-pitched squeaking noise as if he was caught on something and looked near panic, "OH! Uh . . . I mean . . .. It's uh . . . for my girl . . . y-ya know? N-nothing big, bro. Can I just uh . . . look in peace, huh?"

'Okay something is seriously wrong with his guy' Anti glared at the back of the guy's head but realized there was something familiar about him as well.

'Wait a second . . . dude and bro . . .. orange glasses . . . . no idea how to act normal . .'

Anti quickly but silent flipped the man around to look at him face to face and gawked, "What the hell?!" he whisper-yelled, "BING?! The hell are you doing here?!"