Jack Eyrich lay, long limbs half sprawled out, in his desk's chair. Books and papers were either on him, on his desk, or scattered across the floor. He fell asleep many nights like this, and couldn't seem to be able to get out of the habit. His office sometimes felt more like home than where his bed was. Although sleeping in a bed was really much better than sleeping in a chair, no matter how big of a chair it was.
The sound of the doorknob being rattled woke him up.
Jack leapt up immediately, books falling off of him and onto the floor in the process. Slightly out of it, he blinked and glanced around, then relaxed when he remembered where he was. It often took him a moment when he woke up to realize he was safe- safe as a person could ever be, that is- since he was a rather... paranoid person. With good reason, seeing what he did with his time. Being involved with organized crime alone made you a target, but actively torturing individuals, sometimes just purely for the fun of it? Made for a delightful reputation.
He turned his attention to the door, feeling vaguely irritated over being woken up. He checked the time on the old, traditional clock on the wall- and seeing it was only, oh, six in the fucking morning, his irritation grew quite a bit. Jack may give the impression he was a morning person with his whole persona, but he was really anything but that. Not that he'd let anyone catch on to that little fact.
He thought about his own clothes and hair, disheveled from sleep, and fussed over himself for a moment so he could at least look slightly decent. At least. One must keep up appearances, after all.
He made his way over to the door, unlocked it, and pulled it open.
The newest arrogant brat of a criminal, Jeff, was in the hall. The kid definitely stood out, with his dyed black hair and a certain overdone swagger in his walk.
Jeff's hands moved quickly to be hidden in his pockets, but Jack didn't miss the gesture.
"Were you just trying to pick the lock on my door?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows expectantly.
Jeff gave him a slow frown, shifting his weight. "No."
Jack smirked, deciding he'd let the boy find out about the alarms that'd been set up on his own if he tried getting into his office again. That would no doubt be entertaining.
Jack looked the other over lazily. It'd been about a week since they'd had their first encounter. "Right then. What is it you want, exactly? Injured again?" He couldn't see anything noticeable. "Not that I'm not overjoyed at the idea of guests showing up at six a.m., or anything. That's marvelous. I'm just checking to see what you had in mind is all. I'm considerate like that."
What Jack did notice, however, was that the younger man looked rather tense. He thought for a moment this was just from being around Jack, as, well, he had that effect on people- but it was something other than that.
Jeff risked a glance over his shoulder. Jack figured it out right then.
"Did you get yourself into trouble? Again?" Jack asked curiously, interest now apparent in his slightly drowsy voice. "Wait a moment, and you came to me for help?" He grinned widely. "That seems like a bit of a contradictory idea, kiddo!"
Jeff glared up at the other, then pushed past him. "Yeah, I know, that's the same thing I thought," He growled, bitter sounding. "But I didn't think you'd be around at this time, so I was just going to lay low in here a while. It was closest place I could get to."
Jack very politely resisted the urge to break a few of the other's fingers for pushing him. This kid owed him a hell of a lot of favors. "Sorry to disappoint you by actually being here, in my office, then," Jack said with a completely healthy amount of sarcasm. "Can you give me one good reason why shouldn't I just kick you out, or even deliver you to whoever your tormentors are?"
"Wow, this place is a mess," Jeff commented, sounding quite shocked over it.
"Aaaand this'll be the only time you'll see it like this," Jack said matter-of-factly, closing the door again. "Answer my question, if you please. Snap snap, haven't got all day." What I really want to be doing right now is going the fuck back to sleep. Christ. Get back to me when it's noon and I'll bicker with you all you want, or whatever, but. Six a.m. No, just... no.
Jeff thought about this for a moment. "You've got… kind of your own thing going, don't you?"
"What are you implying?" Jack crossed his arms, leaning on the door. His curiosity surfaced up again- not that it never really went away.
"You do things that are separate from the group sometimes," Jeff explained, shrugging. "Like, I don't know, you have your own authority, don't you? Some people work more directly for you than anyone else, seems like."
"Oh, so you have noticed," Jack said cheerily. "That's correct. I do my own business when I can. I like having options. With the way I've set things up, I may never lose my job. Nice, right?"
Jeff shifted his weight from foot to foot, like he'd done earlier in the hall. "So, you'd give a little protection to people who worked for you, right?"
Jack tilted his head. "Absolutely not."
Jeff looked a little stunned.
Jack snickered at the look on the other's face, and went on. "Joking! Mostly. What I mean by that is, I like having people who can take care of themselves. But if I'm understanding your offer... I could think about making a teensy exception in the contract."
Jeff's face lit up, despite himself. "Hey, I'll take anything I can get."
Jack almost pitied the kid for a second for thinking that way, because he really did not know what he was getting into. Almost pitied, but not really.
It was also amusing, seeing how Jeff (from what Jack could get from his expressions and body language) had hated him the last time they met, and now he was trying to cozy up to Jack? Impulsive, or desperate? Or both? Both, probably.
"Very well," Jack said. "But there'll be rules. Lots."
"Yeah, sure," Jeff said dismissively. "I don't care."
"And you'll definitely regret your choices," Jack continued.
Jeff gave Jack a brief uncertain look, then shrugged it off again. "I'll deal with it. And I don't regret things, anyway."
"I'll make sure you will this time," Jack assured the other with a smile. "I have a talent for it, remember?" If there was anything Jack liked, it was teaching lessons to destructive children who thought they were better than everyone else- which really, was what most people were. The more the merrier, at least in Jack's case.
Jeff frowned, and sat in Jack's chair.
"Don't sit in my chair," Jack told him.
Jeff narrowed his eyes, and got out of the chair begrudgingly.
That the teenager was wasting his energy being angry over something as small as that made Jack want to laugh. He'd wish that was the only problem he had once Jack was done with him.
