Fish Mooney's Lil Penguin
Chapter 1: Rainy Day Blues
Oswald was holding an umbrella over Ms. Mooney's head so she wouldn't get wet and cold as she stood outside her club watching the huddled masses scurry off to more important destinations. As he held the umbrella over her, his left hand and arm began to cramp as he stood there violently shivered in the cold splashing rain that ran down his face and dripped upon his dully shining dress shoes. His suit was becoming soaked every second he stood there in the rain.
"M-Ms M-Mo-oney?", he asked.
"Yes, Oswald, dear?" was her reply.
"It's c-cold. Can we go inside n-now?" he asked trying not to chatter his teeth together.
"Poor, lil' Penguin"s cold", she cooed drawing out the name Penguin.
She is the only one he can tolerate saying that name. However it irked him more so now than any other time, "It's O-Oswald. N-Not P-Penguin. And you know it." he feebly murmured.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I wasn't just teasing you, sweet thing" she replied chuckling softly.
He stood there muttering aimlessly to himself. He decided not instigate an argument with her, so, instead he went quiet. When the rain finally stopped they went inside of Fish's club. Shortly after entering the premise she called on Butch to come and close up for the day. he weather was too gloomy for business inch forward anymore than it already had. The last of the dwelling rainy day clientele had left or the day. Oswald went through the kitchen to the back of the establishment where there were employee only headquarters complete with beds and a fireplace. He turned on the fire place and stoked the fire by placing more logs onto the fire. He stood there warming up by the fire place and became lost in memories of his youth.
The Musings of a Thirteen Year Old Boy(Flashbacks 1/10)
Oswald was running away from his bullies as they chased him down to the fishing docks for the umpteenth time that year. He had to catch himself from falling into the icy, mid-winter waters of the lake. His bullies caught up with him and grabbed his suit collar and gave him a beating before throwing him into the icy, mid-winter waters of the lake. He struggled to regain a hold on the dock when someone grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the water. It the goody-two-shoes himself.
"I didn't ask for your help, Jim.", he muttered, shivering where he sat.
"I just wanted to do my civil duty as a citizen of Gotham. Even if that means saving your miserable butt for the umpteenth time this year.", Jim muttered Back.
Oswald liked Jim because he wasn't afraid to hurt your feelings if you really deserved it. Besides in the future he'd need Jim to spare him someday. Jim didn't know this but, Oswald needed him more than he would care to admit. He caught himself starring at Jim when his back was turned to make sure they were alone. When he turned around Oswald felt his cheeks grow hot and flush despite the fact that he was freezing. His eyes darted from Jim's features to his own trembling hands. He felt butterflies in his stomach and heard himself nervously chuckle and snort out of the blue. His blue eyes searched Jim's grey flecked with blue eyes for any sign that Jim thought him weird or at the very least inhuman like the rest of his classmates. But, the only thing he found was kindness and understanding within his eyes. They lacked hate and prejudice. However, Oswald felt sorrow instead of happiness and tears caressed his frozen cheeks as his shoulders heaved causing him to relentlessly sob. Jim's arms wrapped around him and gently soothed his frozen flesh. He smelled like the huskiness of wet earth after a rainfall. It smelled so good and Oswald greedily inhaled his sweet perfume when a crash alerted him and the scene faded and came back to the present.
Stuck in the Present
Oswald opened his eyes and looked around to determine what made the crash. But, alas, he couldn't find any cause for a crash because he had just realized it was too dark to see a thing. He also realized that it was oddly cold and he was sitting on the floor cross legged. He stood up slowly and stretched as he stood up. He felt for the fireplace and found why it was cold and dark, the fire had went out. He felt for the fire knob and turned it so that fire would light up the darkness. With the fire on he looked around and found that the crash was the muffled crashing of the back door in the sleeting rain and wind. He walked towards the back entrance of the club to close the swinging door and lock it up before heading home for the evening. He trudged threw the cold winds and rain of the evening. The clouds made the street lights dim and the surrounding shadows pitch black. His eyes were heavy with sleep and his ears and eyes and nose and feet and hands ached from the cold. He managed to stumble up the from steps of his apartment building and into the building itself. He shuffled, half-frozen, to his and his mother's apartment. He struggled to open the heavy wooden door for it was stuck again. With one last shove the door opened and he shuffled into the apartment, closed the door, and shuffled towards the couch and collapsing, exhausted onto it and falling into a deep sleep. His mind drifted back to his years of his youth, as an awkward thirteen year old boy who was disliked by all except his mother.