Number One Fan

Chapter 3: Lock & Key

Happy continued his shift without further resistance. His father stocked the shelves with new equipment to replace what had been thrown at Howie(although none of it was nearly as valuable,) and Happy maintained the books in the pocket of time when customers were not in the store. It pained him to log the items that were sacrificed hours earlier to soothe Howie's anger... he put 'gratuitous donation' in the slot marked for the payment method on the spreadsheet where they kept inventory.

But as he thought about it more, his anger just swelled. Happy was still very furious with his father for not taking his side in the matter. He and Pop usually had a great relationship—it was just the two of them—but when they got into arguments about work and other matters, they were like each other's worst enemies.

DoeDoe was the only other person in the shop besides the customers who floated in and out. He approached the front counter and stared at Happy like a lost puppy. "DoeDoe." He croaked idly, asking for new instructions. If even the droid was bored, it was a slow day. No doubt, thanks to that bad review promised by Howie, which would definitely be on the net by now.

Happy sighed but smiled anyway. "I can't stay mad at you, Doe—" He reached his hand out to try and pet Doe, but Doe immediately took a step back. "Right... don't like to be touched... well, in any case, I'm glad you're okay. Wish I could say the same for myself. The 'warden' has put me under lock and key again." Happy rolled his eyes. This was not his first time being grounded; it certainly wouldn't be the last. Whenever he did something wrong, his father quickly switched on his, 'I'm teaching you a lesson personality.' A side that involved several things: no leaving the house, no sources of entertainment whatsoever, and solitary confinement. But by far, the worst protocol was the checkups. Happy hated the checkups. They made him feel like a criminal. Then, the door to the apartment stairs opened up. The hiss made Happy jump, but he quickly regained focus after he realized it was just his father... probably coming to scold him some more, no doubt.

"Happy— closing time," Riley commanded as he made his way over, his arms crossed with disappointment— he hadn't seen his father this angry since the Outlanders lost in the 89th annual gordball tournament six weeks ago. Riley was usually peaceful, content with living in his corner, and kept Happy as far in it as possible, but when he got pissed, he was pissed for the rest of the month. "Drop the register, then take your butt straight to bed. And I mean it, no funny ideas." Riley waved a finger at Happy from the doorway and then headed to the apartment level.

Happy rolled his eyes, " Yeah... 'No funny ideas...' I got your funny idea right here, pop." He mumbled snarkily to himself as he grabbed a broom and started sweeping the floor. The inventory was finished and ahead of schedule. After that, Happy turned off the terminal and asked D1 to turn off the lights in the store. He stepped a few feet over to draw the shades, completely shrouding the compartment in darkness. Happy then started the slow and humiliating descent up the steep stare case.

DoeDoe click-clacked along the floor behind him like a pony. One thing about the Omeocoon is that they treated their robots like pets and companions rather than automatons. It turned out that Tommy and D1's ability to connect as robot and organic was not unique. It was carried over to the entire species. What a dramatic transition from not trusting AI to treating it like it would get cold and lonely if it were left alone in a storage closet. DoeDoe kept a decent distance away from Happy as they made their way up the stairs. Once achieved, DoeDoe broke off and went to do his own thing. He had a bit of charge left, and he could interact with appliances on the ship's network, like the laundry processor or the robot vacuum cleaner, allowing him to complete basic household tasks when he wasn't working in the shop. He could also kick clutter into storage spaces with his legs.

The main house was much warmer and welcoming, even if it was small. Most shop space accommodations on board the ship were designed as efficiency apartments with bunk beds. A smaller office space was included for managing the store below. Business management was the main focus of this type of accommodation. So, having a dedicated space to keep everything inventory and tax-related was only right. It did use to have a galley, but the cabinet space had since been converted into storage for miscellaneous items—items that grew too decrepit to put in the shop but useful enough not to be thrown away.