“Hey dumbass, get up!”

Tony’s wake-up call was getting a glass of water dumped on his face. He screamed and swatted the air. His head bolted upwards as he looked around. It was his regular kind-of-messy room with a bit of light trickling through the window like it did in the mornings. At the foot of his bed was Tony’s roommate, arms crossed.

Tony had a certain attitude about everything, and it was that he had to know why things happened. He had always just felt compelled to know the reasoning behind why everything went down the way they did. Not that he needed to be told the reason behind why Jean had woken him up by throwing water on him. That was self explanatory; she was just a bitch. That was hardly up for debate, having known her for as long as they’d been sharing the house. If it wasn’t for her attitude, maybe he might’ve even found some kind of stockholm-syndrome love in her.

Tony felt painfully average despite waking up in an afterlife with anything but average people. He was 5’7, had short black hair, liked hot tea, and ate pizza every weekend. He always felt statistically in the middle. The only thing that separated him from the rest was his need to know the reason behind everything. He couldn’t describe it well, but if there was a mystery, he had to know the answer. Tony had to see the man behind The Wizard so to say. If he didn’t, his mind wouldn’t let him rest. Though, Jean was already doing a pretty good job on not letting him sleep too.

“Goddammit Jean,” he groaned, using his blanket to wipe his face. “Are you serious?!”

“Fuck you,” she hissed.

Jean had a certain allergy to being nice to people, and she didn’t shy away from letting others know. She had dark skin, darker hair, and an even darker heart. Her hair was in dreads, almost like she was imitating her boss, but certainly not as scary. She also didn’t have a large body per se, but Tony would say she’s filled out. Jean did always have heels though. They increased her 5’8 stature to 5’9 and made it hurt three times as much when she decided to purposefully step on your foot. With double utility like that, how could Jean say no?

“Why’re you saying ‘fuck you’ to me?! You’re the one who just threw water in my face!” Tony complained, throwing his hands in the air.

“If I don’t get to sleep in, neither do you!”

“It’s my day off!”

“Fuck you! I want a day off!”

They both were breathing heavily, having escalated the situation way too much.

“Just take a day off,” Tony shrugged, getting up and tossing his wet shirt off, looking for a new one. “Simple.”

“My boss doesn’t give me days off,” Jean shot back. “She’s been holding my vacation hostage since I filed it three months ago!”

“Maybe it has something to do with when your boss almost yanked those roots out,” he said, pointing to her hair.

“Don’t mention that ever again,” she growled. “I made sure they erased that footage.”

“Really?” Tony asked, raising an eyebrow and taking out his phone. “You mean this footage?”

Tony pulled up a video on the internet for her to see. It was a clip of Beatrice attempting to yank Jean’s hair off her scalp while she screamed. Jean crumpled her face up, grabbed Tony’s phone, and threw it at the curtained window. It didn’t break the glass, but she did crack it as the phone bounced off.

“I’ve barely had this phone since you broke my last one,” Tony sighed, picking it up and being glad it wasn’t broken. “I know you’re a BPD rep, but don’t wear it on your sleeve.”

“Just get up,” she rolled her eyes. “I’m going out to work.”

“Mhm, what’s today?”

“I dunno, I’ll just make her take everything out on her son or something. I’m not feeling creative, so maybe just screaming at him.”

“Good luck,” Tony said, waving and walking downstairs with her.

“How the hell are you spending your day off? Gonna bug your boss or something?”

“Well, my boss…” Tony paused for a second. “Who is the OCD boss…?”

“You don’t know your own boss?!” Jean asked, genuinely surprised.

“Never meet him, or her, or them, or whoever.”

“OCDipshit.”

“Get out,” he growled. “You know what? When you come back tonight I’ll tell you who it is. I’ll make that my goal.”

“Can’t wait to come back and you’ve done nothing all day,” Jean teased, grabbing her purse and walking out the house.

Tony rolled his eyes and sat on the couch. He didn’t really need to find out… Well, yes he did. He absolutely did. If he didn’t know for sure, it would kick his brain forever until he scratched the itch. He’d never thought of it until now, but he had to know who he was working under. It’d be the last thing he’d do if it had to be.

*   *   *   *   *

That afternoon, Tony was poking around The Council Building. He was going to find answers about who his boss was. And then he could rest easy. The first steps to get answers just wouldn’t be easy. He took a deep breath and walked inside his empty office. The one belonging to the big man himself. If anyone had answers, he did.

“Mr. DuCarmont, sir,” Tony said, taking a small bow.

“Please don’t,” he groaned, not looking up from his work. “Just say Lucas. I’d rather drink mouthwash than hear you say ‘Mr. Ducarmont’ a dozen times this minute.”

“Lucas, sir, I have a question.”

“Don’t keep me waiting with bated breath,” he said, absolutely monotone.

“Sir, my name is Tony Krat, an OCD Rep.”

“That’s not a question.” Lucas looked up from his papers for only a moment before resuming his reading. Though, Tony speculated he just wanted to look as uninterested in the conversation as possible. “You’re one of the better OCD reps though. At least you’re not pulling your hair out in front of me.”

“I prize my hair, sir-”

“I don’t care,” he interrupted. “Ask the question and leave.”

“Sir, who is the OCD Boss?”

That got Lucas’ attention. He looked up from his papers with real interest in his eyes. At that moment, Tony felt inexplicably afraid, like his brain was telling him to run away as fast as he could and not look back. Instead though, he just watched the calculated expression on Lucas’ face as he decided what to say.

“As an OCD rep, you report to me.”

“But sir, who is the OCD boss-”

“There is no OCD boss!” Lucas said with finality. “You report to me, and me alone, alright? That’s the end of the issue.”

“But-”

“You’re dismissed.”

“Lucas, I-”

“You’re dismissed,” he said, a bit more forcefully. 

This time, Tony felt something push him out of the room, and before he knew it he had been shoved into the hallway. The door to Lucas’ office slammed behind him, letting him hear the soft click of it locking too.

“What the hell is going on…?” Tony mumbled to himself as he walked home. A thousand theories bounced around his mind, but he didn’t know which ones were wild daydreams and which could be real.

*   *   *   *   *

Tony could already hear the mockery before he told Jean that he had found nothing. And yes, when she got home and he told her he had found nothing, she did mock him for a few minutes on end.

“You know what the stupidest part is?!” she asked, laughing wildly.

“What?” he mumbled, about done with Jean’s screwing around with him.

“You were in Lucas’ office! There’s an engraving in there of all the bosses!”

“What?!” Tony exclaimed, bolting up.

“Hahahaha! The answer was right there, dumbass!”

“Well… I’ll just go back tomorrow!” he countered.

“Yeah, you do that,” Jean yawned, trying to stop the laughter.

That night, Tony lied face-up in bed, staring into the ceiling. He could only think of the mystery of his missing boss. There was certainly an OCD Boss, right? Whether there was or wasn’t, why did Lucas get so touchy about it? There wouldn’t be a reason to get defensive if it was a simple answer, right? Maybe the answer wasn’t simple, but in that case why hadn’t he heard of his boss still? 

So many questions swirled around Tony’s mind, but nobody was there to answer them. He would have to go out and find his own answers. Wherever they may take him.