Little Talks {NON/DISNEY AU}

good morning pt. 1 [01]

little talks
CHAPTER O1
good morning! pt. 1

Shut up.
Two words that instantly came to mind, every morning at bright and gleeful 5:30, when Jack had to hear the blaring sound of his alarm. As if he were addressing an actual person, and not a tiny machine, the two words would come to mind again.

Shut. Up.
Oh boy, a pause in between the two words. He's really got the machine shaking in its boots now.
Then, at 5:35, he decides enough is enough and slams his fist down on the white box with blue letters lighting up '5:35'.

Jack slowly arose from the tan and blue assortment of blankets and sheets, cracking almost every joint because of the uncomfortable, cheap spring mattress he was obligated to sleep on. Staring ahead at the wall he breathed out a long, shaking breath that seemed to be missing something. At least to him it was missing something. He rolled his middle and index finger together and grunted in disappointment at the emptiness, and lone feeling of pale skin-on-skin.

"Another day, another dollar." He muttered to himself as he managed to leap to his feet with a small thud.

Cue the stereotypical morning routine and insert it here.

Stepping out of the shower he ran a hand back through his sopping, silvery-white dyed locks and moved his patch of bangs so that they were pressed up against his head. He quickly snatched a towel from the bathroom closet and dried himself off, wrapping the oversized cloth around his waist and facing (you guessed it) himself in the mirror. Although, there wasn't much of him to be seen. An image could barely be made out with all the damn steam in the way.

The 19 year-old, fresh out of Christian prep-school, living off a high estate job he only got because of a few good words from his professors (aside from the multiple negative comments), dragged his index finger along the mirror. He decided upon creating a new face for himself, one with higher cheekbones, a stronger chin, flashier eyebrows and some suggestive facial hair in the mirror. The dumb face traced in a foggy sheet of reflective glass managed to make him smile and brighten his mood, for today.

Anything else he saw in that mirror might just remind him of the changes he'd have to improve on or make. The multiple needle wounds, the bruising on where some plump, chubby veins in his arms would be.. The purple clumps that were still lingering behind from bursted blood vessels.

'No.' He'd say to himself every time he noticed them. 'That's over now.'

He carefully reached out and fetched a plastic box, sitting on the corner of the sink counter. He flipped it in his palm before clicking the flap open, revealing two cerulean blue orbs sitting in their rightful places. Setting one after the other on his right index finger, he managed to cover up the pools of brown in his eye sockets.
All better.

The morning routine carried on being as dull and shameful as always. Jack typically would compare it to the way royalty got ready in the 1800s, female royalty. It seemed like too 'smart-ass' or 'actually-intrigued-by-high-school-history-classes' of an analogy for him, (of all people) to make. Yet, he couldn't find anything else to compare it too. He found himself squeezing into formal outfits that were itchy and uncomfortable, then attempting to pull it off for the rest of the day as if he had no problem.

White dress shirt, 'Check', itchy blue cardigan, 'Check', white-spotted blue bow tie he managed to sneak through the loopholes of the dress code, 'Check', khaki jeans, 'Check', dumb over-sized black dress socks, 'Check', tacky brown dress shoes, '...Check'.

Ladies and gentlemen, a lonely hipster ready to start the day.

Jack had managed to snag the job he had always wanted.. almost. He got out of prep-school with a few good words from his professors, despite his lack of good grades in the 'common-core' studies category. He was released from the educational prison with a job given to him by the CTE Health professor, (staying in that course for all four years really helped), allowing him to apply as a technician (not the mechanical type) over at a psychology center in the big city by the ports. Toothiana, was his trainer's name and he would have the job of comforting and mainly interacting with her patients in general.