Due to money issues (the issue being that they didn't have any) Zero and Bullet had lied about their ages and gotten jobs almost immediately after finding an appropriate house. Zero - or "Tyler Syks" - got hired at a hardware store, and Bullet (who went by the generic "Johnny Smith") got work as a construction worker and that got the group of X6s and one X8 enough cash to buy the necessities: coffee, batteries, food and clothing.
Fixit took it upon herself to take care of the house. Everyday she washed the dishes, washed clothes, went looking for furniture, sprayed bug spray in every corner of the house and tried to otherwise improve on the generally gritty look of the place. By the first Wednesday, she'd even started doing the yard work as well, attacking the weeds and overgrowth with fervor.
But for Ralph, it was a slightly different story.
"Found a job yet?" Zero asked, crashing on the newly bought couch that Fixit had salvaged. Ralph glared at him over the top of the paper she was reading.
"I thought so," Zero nodded.
"If you have to know," Ralph began, "I sent in an application to that diner a few streets over. They're looking for waitresses."
"Waitresses as in 'one burger, one salad, two glasses of milk'?" Zero asked.
"Isn't that the only type there is?" Ralph asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Why waitressing?" Zero inquired.
"Because Bullet couldn't get me a job in construction," Ralph said. "Apparently 'eighteen'-year-old girls that can lift a hundred and ten pounds dead weight are urban legends." She paused and looked over the paper again. "Don't you have to go to work or something?"
"I have the day off," Zero said simply. "Can I see the classifieds?"
"Gave them to Fixit, she's looking for free stuff," Ralph explained. "Why?"
"No reason," Zero sat back on the couch and tapped the armrest absentmindedly.
"If you don't have anything productive to do, go to Fixit. She'll get you planting genetically-altered Venus Fly Traps," Ralph said impatiently.
"Genetically-altered Venus Fly Traps - huh?"
"They're so big they eat apples now," Ralph smiled, turning the newspaper page. Zero didn't move. Ralph put the paper down and looked at him. "Hey, didn't you have the day off yesterday?"
"No," Zero said quickly - guiltily.
"Yes you did! I remember!" Ralph got up and looked at him in the eye. "You were reading the paper and pointed out an article about some woman losing her arms in a book-binding machine!"
"And legs!" Zero added, then covered his mouth. Ralph pointed at him accusingly.
"You!" she hissed. "I hear you complaining every single night at dinner - and I say that loosely - about how your boss never lets you have any free time or days off!" she seethed. "You quit, didn't you?"
"No I got -" Zero stopped just in time. "How did you do that?" he asked. Ralph sat back down on the couch next to him.
"It's a gift. Here," she handed him a page of the newspaper. "Reading the funnies makes the shame go away."
"How long will it take?" Zero asked.
"Only took me two days after getting turned down for that waitress job."
A/N: The 'Blending In' Series is a series of standalones about the kids in "Bag'Em" (Bullet, Ralph, Fixit, Zero and Bugler) that can be read either alone, or in order as a somewhat cohesive story... I hope.