𝑬𝒙𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒍𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔 | 𝑫𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒖𝒌𝒆 𝒙 𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓

₊· ͟͟͞͞➳ Jimmy's Mind Games

5:00am

The blaring alarm startled you awake far too early, the harsh reminder of Curly's late-night message about the morning meeting.
You groaned, hitting snooze with far more aggression than necessary, before staring at the ceiling, trying to muster the energy to get up.

An hour early.

Who even has energy for this?

Dragging yourself out of bed,
you stumbled through your morning routine.
The early hour gave everything a strange stillness.

Your mind drifted as you drove to work.
You replayed last night in your head—Daisuke's apartment, the burnt cookies, the small, quiet moments that lingered longer than you expected.
You didn't know what to make of it.

It was fun, sure, but something about it stuck with you in a way you couldn't quite put your finger on.

Was it just the cookies? Or...

...

Pony Express Inc.

As you entered the locker room,
your eyes immediately locked on Jimmy, casually sitting on the bench, scrolling through his phone like nothing in the world could bother him.
The sight alone made your blood boil.

You slammed your locker open, drawing his attention.

"Morning,"
he greeted, not even looking up.
His tone was calm, too calm.

You didn't respond at first, yanking your work shirt down, fixing it.
Finally, you couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Morning? Really? That's what you're going with?"

"What's got you so worked up now?"
Jimmy glanced up, smirking slightly.

"Oh, I don't know,"
you snapped, sarcasm dripping from your words.
"Maybe the fact that you lied about Halloween and kept me and Daisuke stuck in that hellhole of a house? Remember that, Jimmy?
Or is your memory selective?"

He sighed, putting his phone down as if he were the one being inconvenienced.

"Here we go again—Look, you're still mad about that? I told you, it wasn't that serious."
he muttered, standing up and leaning against the lockers.

"Not that serious? We were trapped, Jimmy! We could've gotten hurt, or worse! You knew what that house was like, and you still left us in blind."
You whirled around, glaring at him.

Jimmy raised his hands in mock surrender, his expression infuriatingly calm.

"Okay, okay. I get it.
You're upset. But honestly?
You and Daisuke handled it better than I thought you would."

"What's that supposed to mean?"
you snapped, your voice sharp.

He shrugged, tilting his head slightly as if he were talking to a child.
"It means you guys did your best, but... let's face it, it wasn't exactly impressive."