Breakdown One Shots

Racoons

It's startling how much racoons look like humans!

That was the headline of the brake-in article Theo was reading as he looked through his phone at 10:00 at night. Foot traffic through Di Angelo's, the coffee shop at which he worked, was rather slow past seven and so Theo retreated to his phone to scare off the boredom.

He sighed and slumped further into the barstool before the counter, his curly, tall chestnut hair resting over his hand that held his face, scrunched up in tired apathy. His doe eyes scanned over each line of the article. He found himself amused as the article mentioned a series of brake-ins nearby where they found a raccoon at the sight of the crime.

When the bell at the front door rang, Theo launched out of the chair to greet the unexpected customer. As he jumped over the counter, he turned to see a young man about his age with a snicker on his face. The man walked up, blond hair pushed back out of his face and brown eyes looking the shop up and down.

There wasn't much to look at really. The lights were dim, and the chairs were old, tan booths on opposing sides of dark tables. The white counter was close to the door and a sign with the menu hung above it. The place was rather small with cracked floors, and the walls really needed another coat of paint but were covered by cheesy art. Not to mention that it smelled like someone spilt their coffee everywhere one too many times.

"Wow, real smooth dude" the customer noted, prompting a sigh from Theo as he relaxed. Theo wasn't necessarily worried about being tattled on by a college age weirdo, but he did know that if it had been someone of almost any other caliber... that could have gone a lot worse.

"Yea, yea, you know how it is when it gets this late" Theo nodded. The guy shrugged and yawned as if on cue. "So, you came in here to order right?" Theo asked in a lightly sarcastic tone with his typical "customer service" smile.

"Oh, yea.... uhm... I'll just take black, large" the man replied before handing Theo his cash and sliding to the barstool that Theo once claimed. It was quiet as Theo moved a few of his school books to reach the cups stacked behind them. He wasn't long into the silence that it was interrupted by a noise.

The noise sounded somewhat like a crash, as if a cup had fallen and shattered against the floor, but there was no glass. The customer looked up and Theo turned around to see if it was the other person who caused the noise. They stared at each other for a moment, Theo ceasing to pour the bitter drink into the cup, before they both realized it was something else that caused the noise. Theo set down what he was working with and his compatriot stood up. They took a second to scan over the room, there was no one else there and it was rather uncommon for inanimate objects to move of their own accord.

"What was that?" the stranger whispered close enough to Theo to make the young boy jump. Theo whipped around and glared, having to remind himself that this was not, in fact, a horror movie.

"I don't know. Why would you assume that I know? I'm working this shift by myself!" Theo hissed back quietly. The man shrugged and put his arms up in a defensive pose before taking a small step back. The room went silent again. "Maybe it was nothing" Theo whispered more to himself.

The world, however, wasn't one for Maybe-it's-nothing and so the sound of an opening door was heard from the direction of what could hardly be considered a kitchen. The boy looked at Theo again who started walking toward the counter with the stranger in tow. Theo looked at every object in the immediate vicinity for something that could remotely be considered a weapon, then he saw the broom.

"Maybe you should call out... see if it wasn't just one of your colleagues" the stranger asked. Theo reached out for the broom and gripped it into his sweaty palms. Theo tried to surf his brain for someone who would be there but found no results.

"They have a key, man, and a group chat. No one trustworthy would have to break the window to get in" Theo explained, "now grab something to use as a weapon." As they walked further into the kitchen the stranger picked up one of Theo's textbooks and when Theo raised an eyebrow, the man shrugged,

"It's heavy."

The only thing behind the tiny kitchen area was the supply closet which had no windows, and the mini break room which had a back door and was the fire exit. Not only that, but the back door led into a small walkway between it and the flower shop next door, also housing the dumpsters and leading into the street which obviously wasn't dangerous in the slightest.

"Watch my back" Theo practically ordered, earning only a curt nod. Theo trusted the stranger enough, seeing as they were both in this situation together. He probably wasn't coming back to the shop ever again though. In the back of Theo's mind, he was rereading the article about the brake-ins. A large part of him hoped that it was just a raccoon like the others.

Theo and the stranger walked past the supply closet and stood to the left of the break room entrance. With a fearful look passing between them Theo swore something under his breath. One deep breath later and Theo yelled something along the lines of,

"Come out with your hands up, dirtbag!"

The stranger was shouting for what Theo could only assume was to disorient their opponent as they kicked open the door. Theo held out the broom and joined the stranger in his shouting as they swung the book around like it was a knife.

After about a straight minute of shouting the two stopped and put their makeshift weapons down to see, not an assailant but a small, fuzzy, angry, black and brown creature making a break for the broken window and open door. Theo ushered it on by swinging the broom at it before he peaked out the door to see if anyone was lurking in the alley. To his surprise and relief, he saw nothing and no one but the raccoon tearing off down the street.

Theo pulled himself back in the door and closed it softly to slide down the wood and into the floor. There was a collective sigh as him and the stranger fell into an awkward silence. They looked at one another for a minute before they both erupted into laughter.

"Well that was fun... at least I'm awake now" the stranger said through tears of laughter.

Theo agreed and rubbed his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, the stranger was holding out their hand.

"Maybe you shouldn't sit on broken glass?"

Theo smiled and took their hand to pull himself up and then dust off his pants.

"You're prolly right, yea." Theo turned back to the mess in the floor and scanned the room for a second to see if there was anything to black out the now broken window from human intruders. "Guess I have to clean this up now" Theo noted, earning a little sympathy from his new stranger.

"I've got some time if you want some help?"

Theo concidered.

"If you're also willing to give up your name I'll throw in that black coffee as a thank you?" Theo smiled and the stranger paused. They looked off to the side and then down at Theo's textbook in their hand. Then they smiled too.

"Ok... deal. Black coffee for a Tailor Friez."

Theo liked the name. He liked it a lot actually. Enough that he smiled like a dork and picked back up his earlier weapon to distract himself from his mind.

"Taylor? ....Cute name."

"Cute boy."

Theo blushed, not realizing this was going to go over as easily as it had. Tailor put Theo's textbook on the counter and scrounged around for a dustpan. Theo started sweeping up glass in a silence that got him jittery.

"Second year Bio major?"

"Uh, yea" Theo assumed he got the information from the thick textbook as he swept the glass into the dustpan.

"..... me too..."