James woke up to Victor crawling into bed next to him. It happened sometimes, when Victor felt lonely or sad, and it was rare enough James was a hundred percent willing to fuck up his sleep schedule to be able to hold Victor in his arms. James kissed his forehead and hugged him. Ollie stirred and wrapped around James’ back without fully waking up. Victor was out cold in a matter of moments– if nothing else, he was very good at sleeping. James wasn’t. He found it impossible to fall back asleep after being woken up, and it was already 4am. He had to get up soon anyway. So he lay there, warm and loved and only half-conscious, smelling Ollie’s shampoo on Victor’s hair. Ollie’s face was pressed into his back, his arms around James’ waist. Victor’s breath was hot against his neck. James didn’t want to get up. He actually thought about calling in sick.

But his damn alarm buzzed without warning as if no time had passed since Victor joined them. Sadly, James had to get ready for the day. He didn’t want to, but he needed this job and he needed a paycheck. Complete bullshit. 

He got ready slowly and was locking up when Connor manifested, looking way too perky, holding Oliver’s bright yellow helmet. Great. He’d forgotten that he promised to take Connor to work on his motorcycle. James checked his watch. He had enough time. The last thing he needed was to be late or just in time. 

“Morning,” James said. “Did you bribe Ollie to give you that?” 

“Yep, I made him rice crispy squares for this. With sprinkles.”

James squinted– Ollie hated sprinkles. He thought they were chewy and picked them off anything he ate. “Well, Ollie is a nice person.”
James started walking towards the stairs. “We have to hurry, I don’t have all day.” He checked his watch again. “How’s the new job?” He asked, reminding himself to be polite for Vic’s sake. 

Connor quickened his pace to keep up with James’ long strides, “Well, it’s not a job, it’s an internship, so it’s… um intern-y.” He gave a small laugh, “Lots of coffee runs and data entry, and getting yelled at and…” His face fell a bit, and he quickly pasted on a smile. “No, it's great! I’m super happy for the opportunity. I’m learning so much!”

James hummed, he knew a thing or two about getting yelled at and no part of his brain interpreted it as “a great opportunity”. Connor wasn’t very good at lying, but James was too tired to pry. “Glad you’re doing what you like, then,” he said. 

“What about you? You work at a brewery, right? How’s that, do you like beer a lot?”

“The more time I spend there, the less I like it,” James said, fishing his motorcycle keys from his pocket. “I think soon enough I won’t be able to smell a beer without getting a headache.” 

Connor laughed as if that was a good joke, and quickly put on his helmet. 

James did the same and got on his bike. “Hold on, tight. If you fall, I’m not coming back and you’ll have to walk to work in dusty clothes. Nobody wants that.” 

“Right, haha, yeah, dusty not dead though, right?” Connor’s voice held a hint of anxiety.

James sighed. “You’ll be fine, I won’t let you get hurt. Just hold onto me, all right?

“Yep!” Connor perked up, and wrapped his arms tightly around James’ middle, resting his head against James’ back. 

It was unnecessarily tight, but maybe he was nervous. Weird guy, why did he want to ride if he was scared? “Ready?” he called over his shoulder.

Connor nodded against his back, and they set out. 

It took less time than expected to reach Connor’s workplace and thankfully, Connor didn’t slip and die, which was good– Victor would’ve probably been pissed if his only friend met his demise because of a motorcycle slip-up. 

James stopped in front of a corporate-looking building and waited for Connor to get off. 

“We’re here,” he said. “You have quite a grip.” 

Connor clambered off the bike, “Yeah, you sure like to speed!” Another fake laugh. He started unclipping his helmet but was struggling with the clasp. 

James reached out to help him with it. “Don’t struggle, it’s not stuck, it’s just finicky. Ollie dropped it down the stairs.” 

Connor froze and dropped his hands next to his body, to let James fuss with it. While they stood together, a red-headed man walked up to them to greet Connor. “Connor hey, you’re here so early.” He was smiling and looked fairly harmless, but Connor tensed up under James’ hands, turning his face unhelpfully towards the ground, making undoing the jammed clasp harder. 

“Good morning, Brody,” Connor answered in a stiff tone. 

James lifted his own vizor to examine the guy more closely. Lord knew Connor had a mouth on him, but he froze up in front of this nerd? He frowned at the man, deciding that he didn’t like him. Maybe every job was full of slimy pricks. 

James finally managed to unclasp Connor’s helmet and gently lifted it off his head. “There you go, you’re free,” he said,  holding in a laugh. Connor’s usually perfect hair was all kinds of messed up. He’d sweated just a touch, and it stuck damply to his forehead and spiked up in the air on the crown of his head. James, being used to fixing both Victor’s and Ollie’s hair, reached out to Connor and did the same. 

Connor reacted oddly, lifting his face, at last, to stare at him with wide surprised eyes. James felt his ears heat. Realizing this maybe wasn’t the most appropriate thing to do to someone he barely knew at their place of work, he pulled back his hand. 

“Sorry,” James said. “You should find a mirror,” he added awkwardly while gesturing around his own head. 

Connor nodded, his face reddening.

“I gotta go,” James said and cleared his throat. “I don’t wanna be late…. See you.” He put his vizor back down and left. That was awkward and weird, Connor was a weird guy. Why didn’t Ollie and Victor ever feel weird when he was around? He shook it off and resigned himself to the rest of his inevitably shitty day.

And damn if he wasn’t right. Just as he got there Silvia was already on his ass, picking apart everything he did or didn’t do. All because he didn’t respond to her flirting. At least the work kept his mind too occupied to think about Connor and his weirdness.