Chapter Text
“I'm gonna make it clear to everyone, because I'm going to dedicate my life to making sure that everybody knows the truth.” Howard couldn’t help but grin at seeing he was making the pair flustered, even if it was just a tiny bit.
“Believe it! ” He grasped at the smallest amount of control he could have in this situation.
“You can’t hide who you really are forever.”
“Finally get everything off your chest?” He saw the irritation etched in Kim’s face. Jimmy donned a neutral expression concealing the slight worry his face had betrayed him with just moments before. Howard glanced at the aquarium illuminating its blue light in the dimly lit apartment, and then back to Jimmy and Kim. Neither Jimmy nor Kim gave any further response, playing it as if they were fed up with their drunken former colleague harassing them in their home. They knew damn well what they had done to him.
“I almost feel pity for you,” Howard finally scoffed, swinging his body to the direction of the apartment’s door. He didn’t know exactly who he was referring to then.
“Enjoy the Scotch,” he spit. “Like I said - you two have earned it! ”
Howard slammed the door on his way out.
He started towards the stairway, mindful of the effect the alcohol was having on his movement. He was mindful of the railing as he began making steps down to the ground floor. Howard noticed a shadow near the bottom of the stairs. There appeared another man, dark haired and wearing a mustache and faded green jacket, going the opposite direction up to one of the floors. The man also certainly wasn’t ugly. Howard missed a step and grabbed hold of the railing before nearly falling onto the man from above.
“Sorry,” Howard put on a polite grin, “long night and too much to drink.” He was sure that was it.
The stranger waved his hands away.
“It happens, man.” Howard detected what he thought was a Spanish-speaking accent.
Something in the man’s eyes contrasted with his easy-going demeanor. Howard instinctively glanced away from his face and continued down. He heard no steps coming behind and above him. He froze at the feeling of being watched, and cleared his throat to break the eerie silence. The stranger resumed climbing the stairs, and Howard breathed out slowly and caressed the car keys in his pocket.
“Why did I have so much to drink? ”
He could hardly believe he drove in this condition.
Howard plopped into the driver’s seat of his 1997 Jaguar and made a quiet hum as he settled in. Jimmy had been right that he was in no condition to drive. He flipped open his cellphone and scrolled through his contacts.
“Shit.” How did he not have a number for a taxi service? He groaned to himself and took in the silence of the evening for what must have been five or so minutes. He loosened his tie before removing it from his neck and closed his eyes. It wasn’t like he had anywhere to be, or anyone who’d want to see him. Just as he opened his eyes, a figure in a pink hoodie and a mess of long, blonde hair appeared from the entrance of the building in front of him and headed towards something to his side.
On Kim’s face was an expression Howard couldn’t quite decipher, either because of Kim’s ability to put on one hell of a poker face or because of his state of mind. He heard a car door open and slam shut in the distance. Had he detected a hint of… distress on her face? His thoughts turned to the man he saw in the stairway. Howard had thought that man had gotten onto the same floor as the apartment he’d left moments prior.
Howard knew he was overthinking this…
This guy probably lived here and was a neighbor of Jimmy and Kim’s.
Emotions flared within Howard once again at the thought of the pair of them, no doubt helped by the alcohol. Getting out of his car, he looked up at the building he’d just left, and a curiosity competed with the residual sense of anger. Howard didn’t know where this curiosity was coming from, or why it was followed by a sense of apprehension.
“Might as well,” he muttered to himself lowly.
Might as well look Jimmy in the eyes and ask him what the hell was so fun about drugging somebody without their knowledge or consent. Might as well see what he has to say without Kim present, evidently a better liar than even him.
“You’re worse than Jimmy,” he thought. He had to confess that it broke his heart a little.
Howard prepared himself to encounter the stranger with the mustache as he climbed the stairwell and once again walked down that corridor, but he never appeared. The drunken man stood at that spot and stared at the door. The air was completely still. He approached the door and slowly extended his arm to knock, but something stopped him. Something seemed wrong, but he couldn’t understand what.
It’s nothing.
Just do it. Knock. It’s nothing.
Howard knocked on the wooden door, three gentle rappings echoing in his mind in the quiet of the night.
“Jimmy?”