Chapter Text
BEX HATED HER JOB—WELL, SHE WOULD HATE IT IF IT WEREN'T FOR HER COWORKERS. All two of them, that is.
Fry's was staffed strangely. They were understaffed (surprising for an area so close to LA) and tended to have the same workers staffed for the same days. Bex had only had the chance to meet and get to know two of her coworkers, but that also meant that she was taken into their strange little click swiftly.
There was Nessie, a girl who teetered between being alternative and goth. Bex liked Nessie, she was the kind of girl you tried to act cool around because it felt like her opinion meant the world, even if you didn't know her.
The other person in the click was Angel. Now that Bex had actually begun working with Angel, he became annoying in an endearing way. Although, as of the last few days, he was somewhat out of it since his cat, Mr. Bitey, had just passed away, so Bex and he made a deal to have him stay on the register and handle the petty transactions (she hasn't been taught the register yet, despite Nessie's best attempt) while she handled the shelves and roaming customers. She hoped it would give him more time to relax.
The deal had been working well until on the third day of the week when she noticed him laughing at a customer. Bex tightened her lips before making her way over to the scene, putting on a customer service smile. She hadn't had to deal with many customers today as there were only ten cars at max in the parking lot at any given time.
Siblings OJ and Emerald stared at Angel with curious eyes as he droned on, "Alright, uh, no help with the install...Suit yourself." Bex looked at the counter, seeing that they were buying three security cameras.
"Is it a hard install?" OJ asked after the siblings shared a slightly concerned glance.
"Well, for me, no." Angel shook his head as he boasted about his experience, "You're not gonna be able to do it."
"There's not directions in the box?" Bex inquired, leaning on the counter beside Angel as she peered at the boxes. Emerald hardly hid her eyes as she looked the girl over, making OJ roll his eyes.
"There is, but they're never clear," Angel spoke after glaring at the box as though it was its fault. He looked over the various cameras and questioned, "What happened? Did you guys get robbed?"
OJ hummed while Emerald took over speaking, "Yeah, you know. A lot of blackouts. Take the camera out from time to time."
"All these new cameras, they have backup battery power, so you should be fine." Angel sighed, focusing back on the computer as he slowly finished the transaction. Bex watched, trying to focus on what he was doing when in reality she was just listening to the sibling's conversation.
"But the outages affect the power in the battery shit, too, like cell phones." OJ piped, his voice and expression seeming tired. He was far less energetic than his sister, who looked like she wanted an excuse to start speaking in her smooth voice.
"Okay. All right." Angel laughed and scratched his forehead a bit before leaning forward to mansplain, "Cell phones, they don't just drop in power. Right? I mean, maybe your Wi-Fi drops out whenever your system dips. So, that's technology." The siblings stared at him, both unconvinced. After a moment he joked, "Okay, or maybe you're in a UFO hot spot."
Angel laughed at the thought, and Emerald laughed as well, somewhat dryly responding, "No one believes in that." But her expression sobered swiftly, leaving only a blank stare that OJ shared.
Angel's smile slowly dropped as he looked between the two siblings, tapping his foot as his mind ran a mile per minute. He blinked for a moment, slowly glancing at Bex as if asking 'Are you hearing what I'm hearing?' but she only shrugged.
He slowly asked, "Are you guys serious?"
"You'll be hearing our names everywhere in due time." Emerald bragged, leaning forward a bit onto the counter, her bracelets making click noises as she dragged them along the surface.
"So..." Angel cleared his throat, standing up a bit taller, "Uh, about that install, um, it's free of charge."
"Is it now?" Emerald tilted her head, glancing at her brother.
"Yup." Angel insisted, "And it'd be real quick."
OJ hummed, tiredly glancing over at Emerald. After what seemed like telepathic communication, Emerald spoke up, "Sure, Angel."
Angel perked up, nodding a bit as he clicked the machine a few times. Bex watched as he then looked at her, then back to the monitor, and then back to the siblings, "Uh-Is it okay if she comes with us? Bex is new and hasn't gone on a run before so it's just training."
Both of the sibling's eyes flickered to Bex, but Emerald's looked her up and down. Emerald put on a charming grin, leaning onto the counter, "Hey, how are you doing?"
"I think one of you's enough." OJ piped.
Emerald whipped her head at her brother, a scolding look on her face as she spoke in a "convincing" voice, "Surely we two couldn't hurt."
OJ deadpanned at his sister, "I wish you'd think with your brain sometimes."
"Sure," Emerald turned to the workers with a look that said she was ignoring what her brother said, "she can come with."
"Alright." Angel nodded, placing his hands on one of the boxes, "We'll load these out and follow you to your place."
Bex lowered, her voice, leaning closer to her coworker at the impulsive decision, "Um, Angel—"
"C'mon, I can show you the ropes of how to install these cameras." Angel glanced at the siblings before lowering his voice playfully, "They're actually pretty simple after all little practice."
She leaned closer to peer at the camera around him, her arm lightly brushing against his. Angel was the one to look down at it with wide eyes, trying to push away the feeling of wanting to lean into it. Bex gave him a hesitant look, "I think I only have a few hours left. It might take too long."
"Yeah, well, Jerry doesn't care much about overtime," Angel spoke of their manager, making the sight of Jerry's thick mustache appear in Bex's mind. The man was quite the sight, looking like he was stuck in the 80s. "Besides, I got a feelin' about this." Angel stared at her, noticing her unconvinced expression. He moved a little closer, saying, "Look, if it's boring, I'll buy you lunch or something."
Bex tightened her lips, slowly saying, "Dinner."
Angel turned further from their customers who were trying to listen in to their conversation since it was keeping them from leaving the establishment, "What?" He blurted.
"Buy me dinner instead." She offered.
Her coworker gaped at her, slowly asking, "Are you...?"
Knowing what he was insinuating, she shrugged, "Maybe." He nodded, a dopey grin growing on his face. Bex blinked at him, realizing he was stuck in some sort of trance. She blurted, "You gonna drive?"
Angel widened his eyes, standing up straighter and nodding excitedly, "Sure."
She smiled slightly, moving closer to the boxes to grab them, "I got the boxes."
"No—" The man moved forward, grabbing them before she could and blocking them with his body, "They can be heavy, I got it."
She raised her eyebrows, "Really?"
"Yeah," he scoffed playfully as if it were truly no biggie as he struggled only a little to lift the boxes after stacking them, "no problem."
Before Bex could argue that she would feel guilty that he was doing all the heavy lifting, he had grabbed all the boxes and struggled his way out of the trio's view.
Bex blinked a few times at his strange behavior before turning back to the siblings with a sheepish grin, "Alright, he's gonna get the truck ready but then we'll follow after you guys, okay?"
Emerald nodded, "All good, Bex."
Bex offered a grin before trailing after Angel. She hadn't seen what he did as soon as he left their view. He had almost dropped the boxes after he jumped with excitement, happy she may or may not be flirting.
Hell, he was head over heels.