chapter word count: 295
noir heart: three
Conversations instantly hush and eyes flick up from whatever they were interestedly perusing as Jack pushes open the wood-framed glass door to the open plan APD detective's office. His colleagues – once good friends, now wary acquaintances – watch him suspiciously as he walks towards his desk, far in the opposite left corner of the artificially lit, magnolia painted office. Quiet murmurs follow him like a cloud of agitated bees, deepening his self-conscious desire to isolate himself.
The chair on the other side of his desk is empty – Aster must be working on a case, talking to a witness or questioning a suspect. Not that Jack would know; he warned Aster a long time ago not to openly associate with him so Internal Affairs wouldn't have reason to put the Australian in their sights.
Therefore, while Aster gets the important cases like murders, robberies and narcotics, Jack gets the run-of-the-mill cases like fern thefts, instances of vandalism – or if the folder waiting on his messier side of the desk as he flops down in his chair is anything to go by – graffiti.
"Fucking beat cop level shit…" Jack hisses irritably as he opens the folder and skims disinterestedly through its meagre contents, and he mentally curses how thin the Arendelle P.D. is stretched nowadays. A quarter of the detective unit is on the hunt for the Ashley Madison Ripper, while the rest tackle everything else.
He used to be one of the best – observant, confident, cocky, with a knack for sussing out suspects and a propensity for bending the rules.
One choice, one fatality later and he's stuck in career limbo.
But if you ask him if he regrets that night?
He'll say "no way in hell".
lunasnoir: Thank you!
kira and e-teens: I find it curious that you both posted the exact same thing word-for-word. I can't speak for the real word where it happens a lot more often than we think, but in the context of this story - Jack changed, and Rapunzel couldn't cope with it.
miki fubuki: ...maybe :P Cop x Something, alright.
heartonfire: Hai! I'm happy to see you're reading this and enjoying it. Cynical, snarky, melancholy Jack is oddly fun to write. I actually can't wait to get to the good stuff (what's new there? haha).