Chapter Text
It’s Vash’s first day at his new job.
Vash, who stayed a year trying to decide what he wants to study in university, who saw his brother move three states up in the map to go to his dream university. Vash, who is now taking this job to see if it helps him with his choice.
He can’t blame Nai for traveling so far to study – they're not even from this part of the country, moving isn’t that much of a big deal. The two had to move after Rem’s death to live with Brad and Luida, who might not be family but were trusted by Rem enough to leave her two kids to their care. He also can’t blame Nai’s choice because of that, he’s the one still living with the two and he’s past 18 now, he should have things sorted like his brother at this point.
“Today,” Brad told him. “I’ll be helping you. I’m gonna give you a ride so you don’t get late on your first day, if you wanted to go by bus you should’ve tried to wake up earlier.” Vash knew enough to understand Brad was just worried for his wellbeing but would refuse to admit or say things in a nicer way, like always. “Since you got lucky enough to start on a Friday one week before Easter, you better figure out a bus route by the next time you need to work. As I said, I'm only helping you for today.”
“Gotcha, wake up earlier.” He replied, drinking a large gulp from his too sweet coffee. Brad looked at him with a scowl, waiting for him to complete. “...and look up bus routes.” Then brad nodded approvingly, brows still furrowed.
“Come on then, you can finish that on our way.” He pointed at the half-eaten cheese and ham sandwich; Vash makes a questioning noise. “You’re gonna be late, that place is almost at the city’s exit. Let’s go.”
Gulping the bite already on his mouth with the little coffee he still had on his cup, Vash got up and ran to get his jacket. Brad drove him to the place without many issues, they had visited before for the interview and Luida couldn’t take Vash at the time, and despite the 10 minutes of mixing road names and turning around the wrong ends they had managed, now they know so it was way easier.
When they arrived, Brad said bye to him by the car’s window and left and he walked into the place. The first gate was wide open at this time of the morning, while the second one – a wired fence, full of colorfully fixed spots – was closed. Vash clapped before calling, but he ended up not needing to call any names before the owner, an older man with weird hair and a strange uncle aura named Roberto, came to the gate and opened it for him to get in.
“Come on, quick, before any of the dogs try to pass through it.” He said, a bit of strain on his voice. Vash noticed the reason of it, and it was exactly what he had told it was: Roberto was holding back 3 caramel-colored dogs, two of them with black spots and a weird pattern on their fur.
He jumped through the gate’s door and closed it behind him, then heard Roberto sigh as the dogs went checking on him, sniffing him and licking his hands once a few sniffs.
“Come on, you all. That's enough, let him be now.” Roberto tried to scold them, but they didn’t pay any attention to him. He sighed again, a bit more annoyed this time. “Nicholas' gonna show you what you gonna do for today. You'll be working with him most of the time but your first week’s gonna be with him all the time, for training.” Vash made a ‘hm’, agreeing with it. “This first day is more of an introduction than anything, so don’t let him make you do any complex tasks, understood?”
“Yes sir!” He replied cheerfully. Roberto ‘tsk’ed.
“Don’t give me that, we’re not in the army.” He replied, chuckling a bit.
They walked to the main house, on the place, but stopped a bit before as the man mentioned- Nicholas – was spotted by Roberto by the chicken’s pen. Roberto got the man’s attention with a whistle loud enough to hurt Vash’s ears, making him turn to look at the two before getting up to check what his boss wanted.
“That’s the newbie?” Nicholas asked as he got close enough, eyeing Vash with curiosity.
“Yeah, and you’re gonna be showing him around today.” Roberto replied, making the other man look at him. “Don’t give him any hard tasks, already told him to not do it if you dare try.”
“Aw, come on, I’m not that evil...”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re the kindest of souls out there, anyways, I’ll be on the house, knock on my door if you need me.” Roberto turned, waving his hand and walking to the house, leaving the two to talk.
“Hey, name’s Wolfwood. Nice to meet ya.” Wolfwood said, grabbing Vash’s attention. Wolfwood had his hand extended in front of him, waiting for a handshake. “We’ll be working together so let me warn you: the peacock? Pretty but evil, don’t get tricked by him.”
Vash chuckled, then shook Wolfwood’s hand. “I’ll try not to bother him too much, thanks for the warning. You can call me Vash.”
“Vash? That's an odd name.” Wolfwood looked curiously at him.
“it’s a school nickname that stuck enough for me to use it, so it’s kinda odd, yes.” He moved his hand to scratch lightly behind his neck, a bit embarrassed by needing to explain that.
“It’s not that bad, your accent makes it sound nicer than mine does.” The way Wolfwood said it sounded a bit flirty, but Vash decided to not try and look too much into it. “Come on, we got lots of work to do.”
The two had an easy day, according to Wolfwood. There were no big issues with any animals, only the usual angry ones who didn’t like Wolfwood and seemed to also not like Vash. They did get a very unusual thing happening, though: The one male peacock they have at the place tried to dance for Vash, and when Wolfwood pointed it out Vash couldn’t help but refuse the bird’s proposal by saying the rejection out loud while Wolfwood laughed at him.
It's around 6:45 pm when they manage to get all the animals back to their respective places for the night. Wolfwood is sorting a few things around the house, Vash with him, when a tall girl approaches both.
“Hey Nick!” She says in a cheerful tone. “How was it today? Everything went well?”
“All good, yes.” He finishes sorting the boxes before turning to her. “Newbie helped a lot, the animals seem to like him, especially our buddy Zul.”
“What did Zul do this time?” Milly seemed to deflate. That animal must mean trouble.
“Zul’s the peacock, right?” Vash asks her. She nods, then he continues. “He, uhm. He tried to show his feathers to me. Don’t worry I rejected him politely.” He finished with a joke, chuckling nervously.
“Oh!” Milly sighed, looking lighter. “Well, good thing we’re just managing bad crushing choices!” She laughed, Vash laughing with her.
As the laughter stopped, Milly turned to Wolfwood. Face serious but happy anyways.
“So, we’ll be having the whole week off for both of you, don’t worry too much because me and Roberto will be taking care of the animals, Meryl’s gonna be visiting too so we will have good food and no risk of eating bread from the same day for a week. I hope you two enjoy Easter!” She clapped her palms together excitedly. “Do try and befriend each other this free week, you two seem like you’d be best friends if you met before!”
Before they can protest or comment on what she said, she’s already waving goodbye and going to the house.
Which reminded Vash of something.
And as if reading his mind, Wolfwood spoke.
“Hey, blondie. What part of the city do you live?”
“Near the center, why?”
“You got anyone to pick you up?”
Thank god, Vash thought.
“No, I was thinking on checking the bus routes to go home... Do you have any other options?”
He knew that was too straight-forward for a teasing, but he couldn’t help it.
“If you got no issues with bikes, I can give you a lift. I live around the center so it’s not too far.” Wolfwood started walking to the gates, Vash following him. “Just tell me the address.”
Vash nodded, smiling. For a first day, this was going very well.
Of course, it was going too well to be true.
They got to his house around 7:20 pm, but because of Brad rushing him out in the morning Vash had forgotten his keys to the main gate. He tried to clap and call for both his adoptive parents, no result. He finally gave up and tried to message them, Luida was the first to reply, asking him if he could wait until 9 and if he had somewhere to stay. Before he could type an answer, she called him.
“Vash, did you see my reply?” She asked as he picked up.
“Yes, I did. I can wait until nine, but I'll probably have to stay by the bakery waiting...”
“Do you have any money on you?” She asked.
“Yes, a little amount but enough to eat.”
Wolfwood tapped his arm, making him look at the man while making a little ‘hm?’
“You can stay at my house while you wait, it’s nearby. No need to worry too, I live with my brother, so you won’t have anyone to bother you.” Wolfwood offered. Vash hummed in thought. “He’s probably not gonna be home, too. Whatcha say?”
“Sure, sounds good. Okay then, Luida, I’ll be staying at my coworker’s house until 9, then. Message me when you get home.”
“Okay, have fun! Love you Vash, bye.” She closed the call before Vash managed to finish saying bye to her, too.
He put his phone back on his pocket.
“Hope it’s not asking too much?” He looked at Wolfwood, an awkward smile on his face while he shrugged.
“Not at all. Come on, put the helmet back on, it’s not a long ride.”
Obeying, Vash climbed onto the seat again.
It took them less than 10 minutes to arrive at Wolfwood’s apartment. It was a place with more than one building and very weirdly shaped gates. The first door had Wolfwood struggling to open it a bit too much, which surprised and worried Vash, taken he’s seen that man lift a decent amount of animal feed on both arms.
They got into the first building, the one closest to the door and climbed two rolls of stairs. The building didn’t feel too lively, but Vash could hear music coming from at least 3 doors as he passed through the corridor.
Nicholas stopped at door number 206. He put the key into the keyhole, twisted it, but before opening the door, turned his face to Vash and said:
“If my brother is home, please ignore his musical taste. He's... exotic.”
And with a nod from Vash, Wolfwood swung the door open.
“Livio! I’m home!”