"Bad cop, I think you should take the day off."
Bad cop looked at his boss as if the man had suddenly sprouted a second head. Take the day... off? Business noticed his puzzled look and raised on side of his uni brow.
"Bad cop?"
"Am I being punished, sir?"
Business furrowed his brow in confusion. Was he serious?
"No. Quite the opposite, my friend. You are going to go home and relax."
"Relax, sir?" Bad cop asked quizzically.
"Yeah. You know, sleep in, laze around, do whatever it is you do that makes you happy?"
"Working makes me happy."
"That's precious, Bad cop, very cute. But seriously, you always overwork yourself and never give yourself time to relax and just slow down for a minute. Well, now you are."
"Really, sir, I'm fine. I enjoy working." He tried to assure his boss, trying to not sound too desperate. He really didn't want to stay home.
"I know you do. And that's what makes you so great at what you do. You're determined and tough and all that jazz. But everyone needs a bit of a vacation. I take them all the time."
Bad cop mentally rolled his eyes. "Yes sir, I know."
Business saw the almost sad look in his face. He sighed and thought for a minute before speaking.
"Just 24 hours. One day. That's all I ask."
Bad cop stared at his boss and chewed his lip in thought. What would he do? What could he do? He couldn't honestly remember the last time he stayed in his home for more than 24 hours. The idea was just... alien to him. Relax? What next? Was he going to ask him if he wanted to take a vacation to Mount Doom?
Maybe it won't be so bad...
Bad cop wanted to growl at his conscious.
A little vacation actually sounds quite nice... if you think about it...
The fear was evident in his nicer side's voice. He could tell Bad cop didn't want to do it. And he wouldn't. He had a job to do and no matter how tired ragged he felt, he wouldn't do it. No way. Not under any circumstances was he ever going to agree to this.
Silence.
Sweet. Strange. Horrible. uncomfortable.
Silence.
"How did I let you talk me into this?" Was all that broke the deafening silence of the house.
Bad cop sat upon his blue couch and waited. Just waited for something; anything to happen. The room, no, The house was eerily quiet and he didn't like it one bit. Not that this was weird or out of the ordinary for his home. It was always rather silent and uneventful as he rarely spent much time at home except for the rare occasions he decided to stop in and sleep and eat. It was much less a home and more of a rest stop. No. What he didn't like was that he was now stuck here with nothing to do for the next 24 hours.
Even his conscious was clamming up.
"Would you say something already!?" He accidentally piped out loud and almost cringed until he remembered he wasn't in public.
Gah! Sorry! It's just so... quiet.
"No kidding..." Bad cop sighed.
Well, why not just go to bed and we'll find something to do in the morning?
Bad cop grumbled. Some help you turned out to be...
With a grunt he hopped from the couch and made his way for his bedroom. His house was... how would he describe it? Quaint. Yeah, that's it. It wasn't too big and it wasn't too small. Three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. The house was one story and was built in likeness to his home he grew up in with his parents. Just to make it a little more comfortable. But he forgot one thing: other people. One of the charms of his home was that something was always happening. If him and his dad weren't watching TV and talking about cop related things then his mother was playing music and dancing along, occasionally grabbing and unsuspecting younger Good cop to join in.
Either way, the house was full and warm. The complete opposite of this one.
Bad cop sighed and pushed the door to his room open. Again, not much to it. Just four dark blue walls, a bed fit for one, a TV, and a couple windows.
We should probably look into decorating...
"I'm going to ignore the fact you just thought that."
Bad cop turned on the light and made his way to the closet to change. A night's sleep did sound pretty nice about now. And if there was anything he liked about his home, it was the fact that he had the most comfortable bed he'd ever slept in. Whenever he did stay home for a night to sleep, he was never disapointed. And at least he had that to look forward to, if nothing else.
Finally getting dressed and finishing the typical nightly preparations, he settled down into bed and closed his eyes. Hopefully tomorrow would hold just what the president convinced him it would. Nothing but relaxation and peace. And all would be serene.
"You've gotta be kidding me..."
If this was some sort of sick joke, Bad cop was less than amused. Because here he was hungry and bedraggled and the refrigerator was empty. It took all he had not to break the door off the fridge and toss it out the window. Instead he stuck with just good ol' fashioned slamming the door and delivering and swift kick to it. The refrigerator got it's revenge however, when Bad cop's aforementioned kick was slightly off and he nailed the corner. He hissed in pain and, after a second, picked up the refrigerator.
Umm... how about instead of assaulting the fridge we just go shopping? His good side butted in.
Bad cop let out a raspy breath and dropped it not so gently.
"Fine. It'd be nice to get some fresh air anyway."
Bad cop dragged himself off to the bedroom to change and get ready for a quick run to the grocery store.
Just run in and run out. How hard could it be?
"Oh, I know I have those coupons somewhere around here..."
If looks could kill, the blonde fumbling around her purse in front of Bad cop would have truly ceased to exist at this point. The woman had been fussing over looking for those accursed coupons she mentioned for the past 5 minutes. The line had now been backed up to a ridiculous point. Sure, he could just walk out and go somewhere else, but after he put this much time into it, he felt like he was now dedicated to get to the end of this. Almost as if he had been challenged. And this woman in front of him truly proved a worthy challenger.
The cashier, a young man, looked back at the line of poor people that didn't have the sense to leave, Bad cop not included. He looked back at the woman and shuffled a bit where he stood before speaking.
"Um, ma'am, I can set your stuff aside and I can get back to you when you-"
"No no no, I know it's in here." She replied happily and resumed searching.
Bad cop felt his eye twitch in annoyance.
Maybe you could just try the store down the street...?
No. I refuse to let this beat me.
What do you-
I've been standing here for the past 7 minutes. If I quit now, just watch, she'll find her coupons and I'll have lost my spot. And all I had to do was wait just a teensy bit longer.
What would the odds of that even be!?
Look, I want eggs and I will have eggs!
Sigh...
Sadly, no progress was being made. And he wondered just how long he would be able to hold up. He started to think of a plan.
No.
What?
We are not bum rushing a poor woman for some lousy eggs!
Then what do YOU have in mind!?
Well, I don't think I should tell you. You wouldn't like it.
Let me guess, it involves being a doormat?
No. It involves being nice.
Bad cop switched over to good cop.
"Excuse me?" He said to the lady in front of him. "Maybe I can help. How much do you have left to pay?"
The woman looked at him for a minute and instantly recognized him. "Oh, hello Good cop! Um, I just need about $5 more but I just KNOW I have a coupon here somewhere..."
FIVE DOLLARS!? ARE YOU KIDDING M-
"Well, in that case..." He pulled out his wallet and the woman instantly paled.
"You really don't have to-"
"I insist!" Good cop said happily, with a hint of urgency. He pulled out a 20 and handed it to the young man. "Five for her things and the ten for mine. And keep the change, you deserve it."
The young man looked at him as if he were some sort of gift sent from heaven itself. The woman gave her sincerest thanks and went on her way. Good cop smiled triumphantly and headed for the door after earning a few words of praise from the other customers.
Now was that so bad? Didn't that make you feel kinda good?
He didn't get any response as his meaner side was silent the whole way home.
Bad cop was literally fighting himself as he tried to make it for the door. But his Good side just wouldn't let him. Every time he grabbed the door he found himself letting it go and pacing around before doing the same thing over and over again.
"I can't do it! I refuse to be stuck here doing nothing. Or worse: going through all that torture again!"
It wasn't that bad! And it's all over now, we won't even have to go to the store again!
"It doesn't matter! If that's how the morning to my 'relaxing' day off is going to start then I can only assume the rest of the day will go just as swimmingly. It's a sign!"
Would you listen to yourself?
Good cop instantly took over before his Bad side decided to do something drastic to try and escape. He had to think of something to do. He couldn't clean because the house was already spotless due to lack of use and he always kept everything organized. All the movies he had were old ones he used to watch with his dad and he didn't feel like taking a trip down memory lane. He didn't have a girlfriend and Emmett and friends were probably busy doing who-knows-what. He literally had nothing to do. And he couldn't think of anywhere he really wanted to go.
Except work. Business would have something for me to do.
"Well, I can't go back to work," Good cop said. to his bad side "I shouldn't be going anywhere, really. I'm supposed to be taking this day to relax."
Okay. You know what's relaxing?
"Don't say it."
Being at work.
Good cop rolled his eyes. At least he wasn't alone. Although sitting around talking to himself didn't seem like very much fun. He had to do something fast. He quickly strolled away from the door and headed for the phone on the wall. It wouldn't hurt to just check in on Business to see how he's doing... and maybe help himself calm down a little.
If we're lucky, maybe he got kidnapped or maybe the Octan building is under siege!
"That's horrible!"
No it's not! It means we get to go out and kick something!
Good cop grabbed the phone and dialed for Business. He immediately got an answer.
"President Business."
"Ello sir!"
"Good cop? I everything alright?" Business asked a bit worried.
"Oh, things are fine. I was actually checking in to see if things were okay over there."
"Of course! Nothing wrong here. How is your relaxing day of relaxation going?"
"Um... relaxing..."
"Good! I know you aren't used to vacations, I don't give you enough, but I thought this would be good for you! I'm so glad it's working out. In fact, if things go by nicely tomorrow and it's not so busy, heck you can take tomorrow off too!"
Good cop felt his panic rise. "OH NO! Er- um, no that's not necessary, sir-"
"Nonsense! You always overwork yourself and never take time to slow down and live a little. I appreciate the enthusiasm though!"
"No really, sir, I'd honestly be much happier back at work."
Good cop instantly bit his tongue when he heard the seriousness in Business' next sentence. "Good cop. I'm not doing this to punish you. I know you're dedicated to your job and you don't do well with not being busy. But I want you to TRY. Just let the world go and try to relax and enjoy yourself. It'll be good for you." Then a click and the dial tone.
Good cop sighed and hung up, much to the displeasure of Bad cop who wanted to grab the phone again and dial his boss back and give him a piece of his mind.
Why make me stay here!? He knows I should be at work! This is pointless! I'm gonna be doing nothing but sitting around dying of boredom and it will have accomplished nothing!
"I don't know about that, mate." Good cop interjected. "Maybe he's right. I do a lot for the city and it's people. And I mean a LOT. I mean, think about it. I still forget where my room is, sometimes. My home is barely a home. And hey, It kinda nice not having the weight of responsibility on my shoulders." He continued. "You know, maybe this won't be so bad after all. All I have to worry about is me, myself, and I."
He bounded out to the living room and stood there for a moment. Finally remembering one little factoid.
What are you gonna do for the next 24 hours, then genius?
Good cop went to answer but silenced himself immediately. He thought and thought until he finally stuttered out a half optimistic answer.
"Well... what people normally do to relax, of course... like... Um... yoga?"
Nope, I was right. This is a punishment.
This was supposed to be a oneshot gosh dernit!
It's been a couple days since I updated TSCO and I felt like I should release something. And since I'm not finished with the next chapter I decided to release this story I've been working on in between chapters. I thought it was a cute little idea and since I actually sat down and started working with it I found I was rolling with it. Also, quick disclaimer: Charlotte doesn't exist in this story, as I'm sure you guessed.I should have the next chapter of TSCO up soon and since spring break is right around the corner, I'll have more time to crank them out :)
It'll probably only be like 2 or 3 chapters but I hope you guys get a kick out of it.
Anywho, this is just a fun little side thing I was working on and decided to throw it out there. Thanks for reading! :)
