It started with an ad: Little time left
Okay, he could do this, no biggie. I mean, the fifth time's got to be the charm, right?
"I'm really sorry Mr. Jordan, but your request has been denied. If you have any further questions please contact us via email. Good luck and have a great rest of your day.*click*"
"sssssss..."
That was a hard blow. He wasn't unreliable, he paid his rent on time, so what was the issue, why wouldn't anyone take him, exactly?
"AND I COME HOME TIRED AND HUNGRY AND YOU HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING ALL DAY! WHAT AM I SUPPOSE TO DO NOW HUH??!"
An old woman was sobbing as a middle aged man physically kicked her out the door, continuing to curse at her. Hal was standing at his own apartment door on the other side of the hallway, takeout in one and keys in his other hand. He had an unholy post mind control headache and the noise wasn't helping him any.
"Is there some kind of problem here?" In a blink Hal was at their end of the hallway, standing partially between the pair. They were a Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins, not a couple but rather a mother and son. The poor widow moved in a month after her husband's death. The guy used to be pretty quiet, not interacting with other residents, but became much more dislikeable in the poor woman's presence. Hal hadn't bothered learning his name, it didn't really matter.
"It's a family matter, you better stay out of it, beanstalk!" The bastard hissed, grabbing for the now gasping woman, "AAAHH," except he didn't reach quick enough and got yanked away, hard.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!"
"First off, lower your voice, second, hasn't anyone ever taught you not to hit a lady?" Hal squeezed harder, pulling the man further away from his mother. Let's just say the guy wasn't pleased and the situation escalated.
In the end the cops were called and they both got escorted out of the building. Mr. Jenkins was the only one getting arrested, but Hal got a written note for his physical altercation with a neighbour. Which didn't really seem to matter at the time...
"hmmmmmmmm..." Alright, maybe he wasn't the most pleasant of tenants...
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Maybe it was just him, but the lights seemed awfully glaring right now.
Green Latern and Flash were sitting on a rooftop at dawn - whoever said evil never slept sure naild that dawn - having early breakfast, some really amazing chinese.
"Sooooo... How have the things been going?", his friend asked,"WiththeplaceImean!"
Hal could only sigh heavilly through his nose, hanging his head.
"That bad huh?"
"Aha...", he really didn't want to talk about it right now, knowing Barry - he'll still end up doing it anyway.
"You know," Barry started, "you can always crash at mine if you need?" He was so nice about it too, might even be a little fun. They haven't been in contact for a pretty while, if there was an emergancy in his sector his absence could stretch up to multiple months.
"You can just say that you missed me, ya know that?"
They laughed and went on chatting. The day was still young and they had much to catch up on. Hal did end up telling Bary about his wories later in the morning.
"I've been thinking about this for a while... I love Coast I really do... but maybe, if this doesn't end up working out, I should move into OA..."
"oh... Have you talked to Carol about... "moving"?"
"ssssssss mmhh... speaking of Carol..."
...
"What???!!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Still nothing, Hal thought, walking through the mid day crowd, everyone rushing somewhere, honking cars stuck in traffic. His worry returning after he'd parted ways with his friend.
Maybe this was some shitty karma, what else could explain this? A sort of divine retribution for something he's done no doupt. Who's snickering from above? Which god should he shake a fist at?
Hal Jordan had been so deep in thought, getting back home on autopilot, that he didn't notice an unidentifiable object heading straight for him, not until it had smacked right into his face with a thwack. A noise nearly loud enough to cover up his muffled squawk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"mmmmmmm..."
"Yeah, baby?"
"uuuuuuu ahha!"
"Yeah you're right as always!"
Another day, another shift at Surfer Smile's. This time featuring Dani, who this morning had decided to scream her lungs out any time Danny had stood at most 10 feet away.
Thankfully it was a slow day, not many people to complain about the "disturbing" presence of a small child.
Ms. Soyer - Oh come ooon, Danny, don't be shy! Just call me Britney! <3 - was quite free today as well, it seemed. Since she was right there cooing at the babbling toddler, who looked to be performing the sphinx stretch in what was no doubt an unsuccessfull atempt at ending her tummy-time early.
"BA!", Dani yelled into her personal rug as she slams her face into it's fluffy surface, "Da- diiiii!!", and Danny was already picking her up and bouncing on his feet. Kissing her little head.
"Awww, she's adorable~", Dani scrunched up her little face, so much so that she seemd to have bit a lemon, and Danny smiled at his colleagues cooing, "Yes, she really is."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You should lay off the jewelry, children have delicate skin, you could cut the little thing."
She was here again. In all her glory, scowling at him.
"Those rings are also small enough for her mouth and a teribble choking hazard."
She had come, this time without an appointment, and just sat there by the fireplace. And of course she had to say something, never satisfied with just fiddling with her sudoku.
"Ma'am I assure you, I don't leave these things anywhere near her."
Dani may be a toddler now, but she'd at one point had a life of an adolescent. She still had her personality and definitely kept some memories as well, at least enough to recognise some people and locations, and, unlike other small children, didn't have the unprompted need to stuff every object within arms reach into her awaiting maw, in the name of exploring the world.
No. If Dani ever put something between her sharp little mawlers, it was deliberate, calulated for her amusement, either at his or his colleagues expense.
"To be carefull isn't usually enough, noone has more determenation then a child wanting something out of their reach."
Danny agreed, saying he'll consider it later, and old Jenkins left shortly after that, not forgetting to say her ferwells to all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was late, he'd decided to take a detour from the bus stop, the air would be good for Dani. His little girl hadn't been able to properly sleep at the practice because of the lights, but started to nod off on their ride home.
She was asleep now, in bed with her turtle, sound asleep, fed, changed, dessed in her pajamas, wrapped in a blanked, and happy.
He'll have breakfas for dinner, eggs plus ham and peas - a classic, he thought after checking his fridge, a grocery run wouldn't hurt.
"You have one voice message", reminded his phone. He'd noticed it ringing earlier, but the number was unknown and the practice disucuradged personal phone usage during work hours. He'd decided to listen back to it later, if a message was left at all.
Guess that time was now.
