sry i would have updated earlier but i rewatched the entire first season of tokyo ghoul and then i was sad and didn't want to write

kAnEKI DId nOTHinG WRonG whY MusT hE SufFEr

ShoutOuts: none :(

Chapter 35

Scott walked into the pizzeria the next morning, exhausted. Vincent had given him last night off to relax after what happened two nights ago, and he was grateful. But then he'd gotten the news, and he had to go to the restaurant to tell Vincent.

"Hi, Scott!" Jeremy waved at him from where he sat at one of the tables.

Mike looked up from his phone. "Sup?"

Scott gave them a nod of acknowledgement and glanced around the room. "Does anyone know where Vincent is?"

Jeremy shrugged. "Dunno. Probably his room."

"I'll come with you." Mike pocketed his phone and stood up.

Scott nodded. "Good idea. You should probably hear this too."

Jeremy began to get up from his seat. "Um, should I...?"

Scott shook his head and waved him back down. "No, it's fine. Besides, I want you to call Zoe and tell her Vincent's giving her every second day off, so she doesn't have to come to work today."

Jeremy nodded and pulled out his phone. "Okay. What about Raina?"

"Yeah, but we need her here today since Zoe's not going to be here," Scott said, only half listening. He was already making his way down the hall with Mike.

"Hey guys." Vincent glanced up from the book he was reading when the two guards entered. "What's up?"

"I have some bad news," Scott said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Mike sat next to him and looked at him expectantly.

Vincent raised an eyebrow as he closed his book. "What is it?"

Scott took a deep breath. "Mom called last night. Dad had a heart attack yesterday."

They were all quiet for a moment. Then Mike broke the silence. "Is he dead?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah. The funeral is in a week. I'm leaving after work today." He looked back at Vincent. "You know you can't come."

Vincent nodded and wiped at his eyes. "Yeah. I know," he said, his voice hoarse. "Mike should go, though. I'll get someone else to cover your shifts."

"I only met him a few times," Mike sighed, "but he was a nice guy."

"I wish I'd taken you to see him more when you were little," Scott said.

Something giggled from in the closet. Vincent picked a shoe up off his floor and whipped it towards the noise. "Shut up already!"

Scott reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "William-"

Vincent shrugged his hand away. "I told you to stop calling me that when there are other people around."

Mike rolled his eyes. "Jeremy's in the dining room. It's not like he'd be able to hear you."

Vincent turned and looked at him. "You know I'm not talking about Jeremy."

Mike sighed. "I know."

The drawer of the nightstand started to wiggle open, and Vincent grabbed it and slammed it shut. "Leave me alone, dammit!"

A smile tugged at the corners of Mike's mouth. "Well, looks like you gave them a pizza your mind."

Scott and Vincent both turned around and looked at him. The closet opened and the two baby animatronics poked their heads out to stare at him. The nightstand drawer scootched open and four little ballerina robots stuck their heads out to stare as well.

"I am so tempted to fire you right now," Vincent stated.

Something giggled from under the dresser, and Mike pointed at it. "See? Bonbon thinks I'm funny! You guys just have no sense of humour!"

"Is he making bad puns again?"

All three of them jumped in surprise when Jeremy appeared in the doorway. The nightstand drawer and closet doors snapped shut, but luckily, Jeremy didn't seem to find this suspicious. Scott glanced at Vincent. He was glad that he covered up his scars as soon as he woke up, or Jeremy would have seen them. Zoe and Fritz were already suspicious of him, and he didn't need Jeremy on his case, too.

Vincent laughed nervously. "Yeah. Um, did you call Zoe and Raina?"

Jeremy shrugged. "I didn't even need to call them. They both stopped by to drop off the animatronics. I just told Zoe to go back home." He glanced at his watch. "Anyway, it's nine forty-five, and we have a birthday party in fifteen minutes."

Vincent tensed. "Shit! I'm not dressed yet!" He practically launched himself off the bed to the dresser.

"Well, I'm gonna go get things set up," Jeremy said. "Mike, wanna come? I could use some help, and Raina keeps getting distracted by the sparkly decorations."

As the two guards left, Scott crouched down and picked a dirty t-shirt off the floor. "Have you even washed your uniform?"

Vincent gestured around the room with one hand. "Do you see a washing machine anywhere around here?" He stopped rummaging through the drawers for a moment. "Are you sure I can't come to the funeral?"

Scott sighed and stood up, dropping the shirt on the floor. "The family wouldn't even recognize you, and they think you're dead. Besides, if the ballerina decides to show up, or either of the other two for that matter-"

"I don't even care at this point," Vincent grumbled, grabbing his rumpled uniform and tossing it on the bed. "I just don't want to live here anymore. I want to live in a normal house, and have a wife that doesn't leave for no reason, and have kids that don't end up dying, and have a friend that doesn't end up ruining my life." He sighed and sat down on the bed. "I wish I'd never even met him."

Scott nodded. "Me too. But there's nothing we can do about it now."

Vincent sighed again. "Go help the others. I'll be out in a minute."

Scott hesitated. Then he turned away and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

xXx

*That evening*

Zoe wiped the machine grease off her hands. It had been a busy day of changing tires and fixing car engines, and she was eager to have a nice, warm shower. She and Raina were going to go out and get dinner together because they hadn't been able to hang out as much ever since they started working at the pizzeria, and she still needed to clean herself up. She was just starting to take off her boots when she heard a knock at the door.

Shit, she's early! Zoe thought, immediately thinking it was Raina. I'm not ready! She quickly stood up and ran to the door. She opened it, an apology already escaping her lips. "I'm sorry, Raina, I thought-" She stopped when she realized that the person at the door wasn't Raina.

The girl standing there had long brown hair pulled back into a braid. Her brown eyes looked almost orange in the light of the sinking sun, and a bunch of little freckles were sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. She was quite short and wearing a simple outfit of jeans and a zipped up leather jacket. If it had been Raina wearing that outfit, the jeans would have been embroidered with multicoloured zigzags and swirls and the jacket would have been a bright bubblegum pink instead of a dark brown.

"Hello," Zoe greeted. "How can I help you?" She was surprised to see this person at her doorway at this time. Most people knew her auto body was closed by this time.

"Hi," the girl responded. "My car broke down a little ways into town. I already asked someone for help, but they didn't know what to do, so they sent me here. They said you were a good mechanic," the girl said. When Zoe didn't reply, she raised an eyebrow. "You are a mechanic, aren't you?"

Zoe shook herself out of her stupor and nodded. "Yeah. So, where's your car? I'll drive you there and see if I can do anything."

"Just that way." The girl pointed to her left, down the road. "I'm not sure what the street name is, but my car is bright blue. It would be hard to miss." She turned and walked down the steps to the driveway, where Zoe's truck sat.

Zoe pulled on a jacket and followed the girl to her truck. She gestured towards the passenger door. "Hop in." The girl opened the door and climbed into the truck, and Zoe got in the driver's seat. She pulled out of the driveway and sped down the street. The girl stayed silent for most of the ride, only speaking to give Zoe simple directions: "Go left." "I think it was down that way." "Go right, I think?"

It didn't take long to find the girl's vehicle. She had apparently been able to pull over before her car broke down, because it was sitting next to the sidewalk in front of someone's house.

Zoe pulled over and hopped out of the truck. The girl did the same and walked over to her car. "I don't even know what happened. I was just driving along, and then the engine started making weird noises. I pulled over and opened the hood to see what was wrong, but I couldn't figure it out."

Zoe followed the girl to the car and opened the hood. She looked over the engine and stepped back. "I think the only problem is that your car is pretty old, and it's cold as heck out here. Not really a good combination. Has your car ever been difficult to start in the winter?"

The girl shrugged. "A couple of times, yes, but only when it's really cold out."

Zoe reached into the large pockets of her tool belt and rummaged around. "I'll probably be able to fix it up a little so it runs better, but I'd have to bring it into my garage to repair it completely." She pulled out a couple of tools and set to work.

The girl leaned over Zoe's shoulder to watch. "How do you even do that?" she asked in awe as Zoe's hands flitted effortlessly across the parts of the engine, tweaking some things and fixing others.

Zoe shrugged. "Dunno. My grandma taught me a little when I was young. I learned a bit on my own, and I took a few classes in school. Now it's just kind of a sixth sense."

"Fascinating," the girl whispered. "The only things my hands are good for are giving students bad grades."

"You're a teacher?"

"Yeah. I came here for a job interview. Hopefully I'll be teaching eighth grade English by the end of the week."

Zoe smiled. "I was never really very good at English. Seriously, my spelling is atrocious." She paused. "I don't even know if I can spell 'atrocious'."

The girl laughed. "I'm Charlie, by the way. Charlie Brooks."

"Zoe Nova," Zoe said. "I'd shake your hand, but-" She raised one grease-covered arm.

Charlie smiled. "Yeah. I get it."

"So, Charlie, have you got an apartment anywhere? If I can't get your engine fixed, I might have to drive you home."

Zoe saw Charlie shake her head out of the corner of her eye. "No. I'm just going to stay in a motel until I have enough money to pay for a house."

Zoe looked up from her work. "You can stay with me for now, if you want. I've got a spare guest room you can stay in. Besides, I might need more time to work on your car."

Charlie thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. No use in wasting money on a gritty motel if someone's offering to let you stay with them."

Zoe nodded. "Exactly." She shoved her tools back into her belt and slammed the hood of the car down. "Well, I think that's as good as it's going to get for now. Why don't we head back to my house? I'm going to get dinner with a friend, and I don't want to be late." She looked up at Charlie as she wiped her hands on her coveralls. "You can tag along if you want."

Charlie smiled. "Sure. I think I'd like that."

The two got into their separate vehicles and drove off.