Chapter Text
Veneer checked his hair one last time before taking a deep breath and leaving the staff bathroom. Today was his first day of work, after he'd been released from Prison early due too good behaviour ( Velvet was still in jail) and was left at a loss. Usually he just did whatever his sister wanted, he thought of his only role in life was to support her and had no real interests of his own. Only she wouldn't be let out for another good few months so he was stuck without her... he would honestly just wait for her release.
But for now he had a job to do, He was lucky that he'd been able to get a job so quickly. It seems like 3 and 1/2 months were enough for the media to die down and he's had no trouble so far. He'd managed to get a job in a Cafe on the quieter side of mount Rageous, which was good because he didn't want to go home to his parents and he wanted to stay as close as possible to his sister (Who was in a mount Rageous prison cell ).
"Hey Kid you in there!" A voice came through as someone knocked on the door " We're opening now time to get to work" It was his boss Andi
"I'm coming" He called, he was immensely grateful to them for giving him a chance. They'd trained him on the weekend so he could go straight to work come Monday
He opened the bathroom door and went to the front of the Cafe. He waved at one of his co-workers who gave a small wave back. Right- he could do this, be a good worker.
"I'm Here" He said " What'dya want me to do?" He asked Andi
"You're on serving duty today Lad" Andi said, they treated him like a kid but Veneer found he didn't actually mind it
"Cool!" He said before moving to take the first order to a table
He was very nervous but it went okay! He just gave the order, and came back with them asking if the cake was vegetarian ( He wasn't sure why but he said he'd ask the staff anyway). Maybe this work thing would be fine. He even started to joke around with his co-workers and smile at customers ( A nice girl had given him a tip because of it) . He generally felt more confident by the minute, this job was fun. He worked peacefully for the next half hour or so before things started to go wrong.
He had been minding his business on his break (15 minutes in the back to chug a scalding hot chocolate) when he heard the boss start to chat with some customer who'd just walked in ,from the sounds of it they were probably a regular. He wasn't really paying attention to it until he heard them say Ritz.
"Yeah so anyways Ritz, You wanna meet the new lad?" Andi asked
"Sure, why not-gotta know all the staff if you're a regular right?" The all too familiar voice said
"OI LADDIE!!!" Andi Yelled " Come over'ere I've got someone who wants te meet yeh"
"Coming Boss!" Veneer called back
As he walked to the front counter he was feeling a sense of dread, surely this couldn't be kid Ritz right? It was just a coincidence they had the same name-right? His hopes where dashed when he saw who Andi was talking to, and sure enough it was Kid Ritz. Kid Ritz eyes widened as he saw who Andi's new worker was. Veneer was praying he wouldn't cause a scene.
He plastered a smile on his face and said " Hi! I'm Veneer it's nice to meet you"
"Ritz" Kid Ritz said, holding out a hand for Veneer to shake " I'm a regular here so you'll be seeing a lot of me"
Veneer smiled back, luckily Kid Ritz was pretending he didn't know Veneer ( Which Veneer had been doing when he introduced himself) which made things a whole lot easier.
"You too are around the same age yeah?" Andi asked
"16 " Kid Ritz said
"Same" Veneer added after
Andi grinned at that " Anyways Lad, back to work for yeh, I ain't paying ye to slack off"
"Right away boss!" Veneer said before leaving to go back on shift
He ended up having to take Kid Ritz's coffee and Cake slice to him. When he got close to Kid Ritz he still wore his smile, as he unloaded the plates from the tray.
"So" Kid Ritz said " What are you doing here, shouldn't you be in prison?"
"Got released early on account of good behaviour" Veneer said
"Your sister?" He questioned
" Still in for a good looong while yet" Veneer answered
"Good" Kid Ritz said before glaring at Veneer
"Look" Veneer said with a sigh, " You can still hate me but can you pretend you don't know me and ignore my past just in the Cafe? I actually want to do my job properly and it won't do if you cause a scene every day"
"Me!" Kid Ritz hissed "Cause a scene?!"
"Shhh" Veneer said " Can I just get my answer quickly so I can go back, Andi's staring"
"Sure, fine, whatever" Kid Ritz said " As of now we are officially strangers"
"Thank you" Veneer sighed with relief
"It was nice to meet you Ritz!" He exclaimed loudly as he walked away from the table
Now that was sorted he could just peacefully work in this cosy little cafe until his sister was released and she told him what to do next. Yes this idea suited him, suited him very well in fact.