Keeping The Peace

The next day, AJ took Kace to school and headed to work. She barely slept all night thinking about what Kace had said to her. It seemed to have gone past his head, and he'd woken up, forgetting all about the comic and the temper he broke, but AJ couldn't stop thinking about it. His little face. How upset and tired he looked. Every day she wished she could give him something better. A better life. A more stable environment. But she was doing her best.

She got to the café and once seeing Bonnie, she thought it'd be a good idea to tell her that she lived above her little brother.

"So he was the asshole having the party?" Bonnie asked, not even surprised.

"Yeah." AJ nodded, "I can't believe he's your brother."

"Me neither sometimes." Bonnie chuckled whilst prepping food as AJ cleaned out the coffee filters, "He's got a good heart, just takes a while to come out most times." She said.

"I saw him at the comic store a few blocks down. I… I sort of went off on him because he tried to give Kace a free comic." She said, "I sort of… took it as him looking down on me like I couldn't afford to buy it. But… I think he was just trying to be nice." She nodded.

Not only was she awake all-night thinking about Kace, but she was thinking about Phil and how she'd possibly blown the whole thing out of proportion. She was just too proud to accept things for free, and sometimes she just put herself in survival mode against all males who ever tried to do anything nice for her.

"He can be an asshole, don't get me wrong." Bonnie laughed a little, "But he's a good kid. He wouldn't have been trying to patronise you, trust me." She nodded. She knew her brother too well.

"I feel a little bad now." AJ admitted truthfully.

"Don't. Look at it as you getting him back for the party." Bonnie shrugged as AJ just smiled.

"You uh… You don't mind me asking what happened to you when your mom died?" Did you stay with your dad or…" She looked over. She was befriending Bonnie very quickly, and although she barely knew a thing about her, she felt herself asking these questions, since Bonnie was so open with her.

"No. Dad left when Phil was a baby." Bonnie said, "We went into the foster care system." She said, "Then we got a new home. Phil doesn't talk to them. Won't label them as his mom or dad." She said, "They're nice people. Done good by us but… Phil always seemed to think there was an agenda." She shrugged.

"At least you guys had a new home." AJ nodded.

"That's the way I saw it." Bonnie said, "He didn't. He was always difficult."

"I can imagine." AJ nodded as Bonnie glanced over at her.

"So… I'm only assuming you're not involved with Kace's dad?" She asked as AJ stiffened without Bonnie noticing, turning her back to her to put the filters back into the machines.

"No, we don't talk." AJ said simply as Bonnie just nodded.

"Didn't work out?" Bonnie asked her as AJ just nodded.

"Yeah, didn't work out." She smiled softly to Bonnie who just nodded, "So… should I go apologise to your brother for kicking off yesterday?" She wondered, quickly trying to change the conversation topic.

"If you feel it's necessary." Bonnie laughed a little, "I doubt he's crying over it." She said, "But since you guys are practically neighbours, maybe it's best to keep the peace. Especially since there's already enough going on in that apartment block. Terrifies me every time I have to go visit him." She shook her head as AJ nodded.

"Yeah. I need to make sure me and Kace are home and the doors are locked before 6pm." AJ shook her head as Bonnie nodded, "I might just pop into the comic store when I'm going to pick Kace up after my shift." AJ nodded to herself. She never found it necessary to apologise to anyone, but she felt like her attitude really had crossed a line when the man was only trying to do a nice thing for her son. She just felt very defensive after everything she'd been through.

Once AJ was finished her shift and was headed to pick Kace up from school, she stopped by into the comic store and headed over to the counter where she spotted Phil standing.

"Can I help you?" Punk asked her without looking up, although knowing it was her from watching her walk in.

"I'd uh… I'd like to apologise." AJ said as he looked up, "I… I shouldn't have got mad like that when you were trying to do a nice thing." She said, "I just… I don't like feeling any smaller than what I already do." She said as Punk folded his arms.

"I didn't want to make you feel small. I saw how excited the little guy was about the comic and… I don't know. He reminded me of me when I was that age." He said, "And little me would have loved a free comic." He said as AJ smiled lightly.

"It was a nice thing to do. I'm just not used to things like that and… I wasn't sure how to take it." She said, "It's better I just wait and buy it when I get paid." She nodded.

"You know… you could have just said that yesterday." Punk said as she nodded.

"I know." AJ said, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry." She concluded as Punk just nodded.

"Don't worry about it." He smiled as she nodded, both looking across at each other awkwardly.

"Ok." AJ broke the silence, "I'm gonna go." She pointed to the door as Punk nodded, watching as she left the store. He didn't expect an apology from such a fierce and fiery character like her, but it looked like she'd taken a step back and thought about what she said. He really wasn't trying to patronise her or make her feel small.

"Who was that?" Dean asked as he came out from the back.

"Uh… neighbour. On the floor above." Punk said, "She was here yesterday. There was… a little incident." He said, "We cleared it up." He said, "And she works with Bonnie too."

"What's her name?" Dean asked.

"April I think." Punk nodded.

"Hot?" Dean questioned.

"Yeah, but… honestly, a little scary." He nodded as Dean laughed, "She's got a kid. He must be like… four or five." He said, "He's cute."

"You checking her out?" Dean asked.

"No." Punk laughed, "She's like… in her own little bubble. Seems like a bit of a complicated person." He admitted truthfully.

"They're the best types of fucks." Dean shrugged as Punk rolled his eyes, "What? They are." Dean said.

"Ok. Thank you for your input." Punk said, "I'm off at 5 now instead of 6. Bonnie is coming over for dinner." He shook his head, "Probably to try convince me to go to Alice's birthday party." He said, referring to his foster mother.

"I do love your sister." Dean nodded as Punk turned to him, "You gotta admit her legs are good."

"She's my sister." Punk cringed, "And you're a fucking dick." He shoved Dean's face as Dean laughed to himself and walked away to do something a little more productive.

Later that night, Bonnie was at Punk's for dinner. They were close siblings and the fact that they only had each other in other words, made them even more closer.

"You have to stop feeding me pizza. Why can't I come around here to a… to a freshly prepared salad?" Bonnie asked, crashed on the couch with the pizza box on the coffee table whilst Punk sat similarly across from her.

"Because salad doesn't step foot inside this place, that's why." Punk said simply as Bonnie laughed.

"I figured." Bonnie nodded, "I heard you got an apology today." She smiled over to him as he nodded, "April is sweet, isn't she?" She nodded.

"Sweet?" Punk raised a brow, "She's terrifying. Looks like she's ready to fight with someone the entire time." He said.

"She does not." Bonnie laughed, "I think she's been through a rough time. Said she's always moving, she's a single mom, surviving on poor pay." She said, "Must be hard."

"Is this you and her bffs for life now?" Punk asked her.

"I'm looking out for her, yeah." Bonnie nodded, "She felt bad for going off on you yesterday. I didn't catch the full story but… she assumed you were just trying to be nice."

"Her fucking kid wanted the comic so I thought I'd be a good person and give him it for free, I'd just put the money into the till later on if anyone questioned it, but she fucking bit my nose off and threw the comic back at me." He said, "It wasn't anything serious. Reminded me why I don't do nice things for people."

"Oh, don't be like that." Bonnie rolled her eyes, "She's new here. The first impression of you she had was that you play loud music and keep her and her son awake all night."

"I apologised for that but… she's obviously in the wrong apartment block if she's not into that sort of thing."

"I think she's taking what she can get at the moment." Bonnie said, "So… are you gonna go to Alice's-"

"Oh, Bonnie." Punk groaned angrily, "No. No I'm not going." He said, "And stop trying to convince me. I don't talk to them so why would I go to her party?"

"Phil. I know you dislike them but they gave us a home. They didn't have to. They took us together and they raised us. Gave us food, shelter, advice, whether it was useful or not. They might have been distant and it might not have felt real but they were still some sort of parents to us and you can't just ignore that." Bonnie said, "Alice loves you. You know she does."

"I'm not going." Punk said.

"You're such a baby." Bonnie shook her head, "Grow up. Mom died and we got a new family. That's it." She said.

"You're not the one who found her." Punk hissed as Bonnie rolled her head back on the couch and sighed.

"I know that." Bonnie said, "It wasn't anything we done, Phil. She wasn't well." She said, "Whether you like it or not, Alice and Gerry gave us a chance at keeping a normal life. We could have been in foster care for… for the rest of our lives, until we were eighteen, but they took us in, gave us a place to call home again." She said, "And I know you hated it and you spent every given moment with those stupid friends you have." She said, "But you still need to appreciate what they did for us." She said as Punk just sighed and turned away from her.

"Just stop asking me about it." Punk said, "Ok?" He asked her as she just nodded, both of them listening as loud thuds were heard from the upstairs landing.

"Is it always this loud here?" Bonnie questioned.

"This is your standard Friday night." Punk nodded, listening as the noise got louder.

"Maybe we should… go check and see if everything is ok."

"Trust me it will just be drunk Rob upstairs." Punk waved his hand.

"Well someone needs to shut him up." Bonnie groaned, standing up and walking towards the door as Punk followed her.

"Ok, alright. Stay here then." Punk told her, "If you insist on playing hero." He snapped at her as she made a face, leaving the apartment and walking upstairs to the next floor where he saw Rob, the man who lived across the landing from AJ, sitting outside his door with a bottle of rum in his hand, kicking at his door and singing.

"Look at the state of you." Punk kicked his foot.

"Hey, fuck… fuck you." Rob pointed at him and then laughed.

"You stink." Punk shook his head, "C'mon. Get up." Punk nodded, grabbing him by the arm and helping him up to his feet, "Give me your keys." He said, already checking the older man's jacket pockets for his keys.

"Since when… when are you nice?" Rob laughed with hazy eyes, "You're normally a prick."

"Well it was either me or my sister. And she is way less gentle than I am." Punk said, finding his keys and opening up the door, taking the bottle of rum from him and guiding him into his apartment into his bedroom where the man practically fell onto his bed.

Punk just shook his head, "No more singing." Punk warned as Rob began to hum to himself as Punk just shook his head and left the apartment, locking the door over and posting his keys through the letterbox, making his way back downstairs to his own place.

Meanwhile across the landing AJ backed away from the peep hole on her door, unclenching her fists and relaxing her shoulders, heading back to her bedroom, feeling just that tiny bit safer now. But she'd faced a lot worse than singing drunk men.

A/N: Let me know what you think!