Number One Fan

Chapter 5: One Day

Of course, he wouldn't be caught dead working on the comic now, especially after everything that happened yesterday.

On his 15-minute break, he found a box of safety pins on one of the shelves and fastened the comic behind his sash in an inconspicuous way-- if he turned at just the right angle, the comic would be nearly invisible-- but, downsides... rolling it up and poking a hole straight through the middle of it was not particularly... ideal, doing that certainly made Happy uncomfortable. It was like he was shooting himself in the foot, but sacrifices had to be made. Still, it was a collectible and had to be preserved, but suppose all that mattered was that it was his again.

Happy was holed up in the storage room, hunched over, like Gollum from Lord Of The Rings, one sentence away from saying, 'My precious,' as he desperately looked over his work, trying to make mental notes of all the edits he'd have to sketch in later. Of course, the lighting in the storage room was worse than just bad. It was horrendous. He may as well have been reading it in a coffin. But he was flying under the radar... and for some strange reason, the thrill of doing this behind Pop's back made him feel exhilarated. He was certifiable. Happy heard the door starting to open. He jumped in surprise. And started frantically trying to get the comic back behind his sash. But the damn safety pin refused to lock. His fingers were trembling too much, and he almost screamed. In a last-ditch effort to save himself, he desperately threw it in the corner of the room with all of his strength, and it made a 'wack!' Sound as it smacked up against the wall and slid behind a box of Panthorian nips. Happy winced at it, "Sorry..." He whispered to the inanimate paper, like it had feelings, then picked up literally the next object he could find that would make him look busy.

His father opened the door and watched as his son awkwardly shuffled to do... something. "...Happy?" Riley sounded slowly, trying to look over his son's shoulder, concerned by his movements.

"Yeah, yeah..? What? What is it?" Happy asked frantically as he turned on his heels to face his father, straightening out his sash. He tried to be as inconspicuous and as natural as he could be.

"What was that noise?" Riley asked, entering the storage room and beginning an inspection right away. He neared the comic's position without a clue in the world as to what he was standing by. "Is that wild glidepad back? Damn thing must be trying to get into those old ration packs again... I swear we've got to get rid of those before it returns with all its friends, and we have an infestation..." Riley hunched over and started to get ready to move the Panthorian food, thinking that if it were perhaps placed on a higher shelf... their little rodent friend would have a harder time getting to the bounty. That way, it would starve out or at least migrate to one of the other shops in the area.

Happy gritted his teeth, horrified that he would be caught. Without much thought, he screamed without warning. 

 Riley, startled, dropped the box as he'd lifted it just about an inch off the ground. It slammed on the titanium deck plating and kicked up a good deal of dust. Riley immediately straightened up. "What?! What?!" He frantically shouted, lifting a foot in reflex as his eyes darted around, scanning the floor. He thought that maybe Happy was screaming because he saw the aforementioned rat-looking thing skittering across the storeroom floor... how he despised rodents.

"Nothing... I was just... erm... practicing my singing voice!" Happy laughed forcefully.

Riley looked at Happy like he was out of his mind. He briefly thought about his next words, staring Happy down with nothing but irritation; with furrowed eyebrows, he inquired, "Happy. Do you need medication? You can tell me if you need it. It's okay to ask for help." 

"No, of course not! Like I said. I'm doing music stuff again. You know how my target moves!" 

Riley hummed and narrowed his eyes at Happy; Riley further interrogated, "What are you up to?"