To be fair, nobody knows how it all really began.
Casual conversations lasting hours suddenly turned into brief moments of snippy comments and snarky remarks. Smooth teamwork turned into a match of verbal pushing and shoving.
Brick had seen it all.
She didn't like seeing Gustavo and Peppino fight; in fact, this was the first time she had ever witnessed them fighting. Aside from minor squabbles or disagreements, the two always got along. But this wasn't any of that. The more the two of them worked together, the faster their friendship dwindled.
A typical day at Peppino's pizza would involve some customers placing orders; Gustavo would write them down and hand them to Peppino. If the orders were big enough, he would help.
Peppino would finish the order, and the process would repeat until they closed.
But things suddenly soured just about a week ago. Brick was asleep in the break room when she heard Peppino shouting.
"You're wrong, Gus! Just leave things as they usually are!" Peppino shouts, his voice filled with annoyance. Brick couldn't see him, but she could imagine his eye was twitching. An unfortunate behavior Peppino does when he's upset.
"But I'm not! The customers have been ordering a lot of sausage this week. We should stock up on some extra in case we run out." Gustavo calls back. He wasn't exactly yelling yet, but he was close to it. Brick knows Gustavo isn't the arguing or the angry type, if anything, he's the opposite of Peppino. Calm-minded, nicely mannered, polite, and quiet.
Sounds like a dig at Peppino, but... he has his nice traits too. Brick just... hasn't seen many yet.
"Look, I've been in this business longer than you have, Gus! I know the customer way better than you! It's just a phase, why waste the money? By next week, everyone will be ordering broccoli!" Peppino says loudly. His voice really rings through the whole pizzeria.
"Hmph. You know, maybe you don't know your customers as well as you think you do?" Gustavo retorts. It was unexpected. Usually the conversation would have dropped by now.
Brick scampered over to where the two men were arguing. She peeked in through the doorway, not wanting to be spotted. Which was hard, considering she was a giant rat.
Just as Brick imagined it, Peppino looked grumpy and pissed. "What the hell is with the back talk?!" He shouts back, wagging his finger at Gustavo.
Gustavo doesn't flinch, he stands his ground. "I'm just saying, maybe it wouldn't hurt to listen to me every so often! Perhaps it would bring in some good business!?" Gustavo shouts back, his voice rising to be just as loud as Peppino's. An odd and unnatural sight.
A deep shade of red flushes over Peppino's face, his eyes dilating with anger. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Peppino screams. His mouth opens so wide the Brick can see at least three cavities inside his mouth. Gross.
Gustavo doesn't respond, instead he just shrugs and goes back to what he was doing, cleaning the counter.
Peppino stares him down for a moment before marching back to the kitchen.
Brick sees him heading towards her way, so she bolts back to the break room.
She snuggles on the couch, thinking to herself. She hoped this would blow over soon, she doesn't like seeing Gustavo upset or angry.
Oh, yeah, and Peppino too.
That's what she hoped for, but a week later things still haven't changed for the better.
"You call this cursive? Looks like chicken scratch! Medium pepperoni pie? Barely looks anything like it.." Peppino huffs as he takes an order from Gustavo.
