#plsplspls tell me this is better than the original chapter

[cmeiffel]

chapter 1

"Wake up."

"Come on, wake up for me."

"Jare-please, you have to-"

"Wake up, damn it!"

Holy fuck. His chest immediately squeezes itself and his heart almost succeeds in breaking through his ribs with how hard its beating and his arms instinctively come up to shield his head and his whole body tenses and curls up and he flinches without meaning to as he realises that that is a person standing over him- he's standing over him and-

"Woah, relax, Smit. It's just me, see?" 

Evan steps back, hands raised, watching his friend worriedly. Jaren peeks through his eyelids at the sound of the other's voice. He squints at Evan for a few seconds before it hits him and he lowers his arms and lets his body slump back into the mattress he was laying in. "Shit, dude. Could've killed a guy with that heart attack of a wake up call."

Evan relaxed himself and mumbled an apology which was promptly brushed off. They've had the conversation many times before, apologies weren't required. 

The younger listened in his sleep-dazed state as the other canadian went off on a tangent, of which Jaren only caught the words "ice-cream" and "introductions". He wasn't sure why but allowed his bleary eyed self to be dragged from his room and out the front door. 

April 5th

It was comforting, the silence that fell over the streets, save for the soft buzz that came with a sleeping neighborhood. They were not the only ones wandering about but they probably were the only ones with somewhere to be at such a late hour. Said hour which was not forgotten by Evan, seeing as his present company has elected to complain about it over the past few minutes.

"Evaaannn, it's two in the fucking morning," Jaren whined, "where on earth are you taking me at this ungodly hour?"

The older chuckled at his friend's dramatics, ignoring the complaints while he led them around a corner. The pair walked on underneath the dim light of the overhead lamp posts for a few more minutes, exaggerated huffs and sighs from Jaren following behind them. 

Their next turn seemed to have brought them on the right street at last, and Evan's pace slowed ever so slightly.  They stopped in front of a little shop, Evan  walking right in while his companion hesitated for a moment in favour of giving it a once-over. Compared to the others that held empty darkness within, this one glowed with dimmed fluorescent lights spilling from its windows and onto the street. Stated clear on the windows and on a sign hanging overhead, bold letters spelled out the supposed name of it.

"The Noose," he read softly. "If it wasn't for how clean the place looked, I'd think he's brought me to a hot spot for dealers."

HIs muttering ceased as he pushed in the door and stepped inside. First thing he noticed was how much warmer it was, and how the warmth seemed to soothe the tension in his back. Second thing he noticed was how the interior seemed to be much more spacious than he expected with how small it looked from the outside. Typical diner-style booths in neat rows stretched from the middle, where a counter sat with, of course, padded bar stools that lined the front. One of which was occupied by his friend who was watching him fondly. 

Jaren walked himself to a stool beside the man, making sure to bump into him forcefully as he sat down. "Stop staring at me, idiot," he mumbled as his eyes trailed along the drawings that filled the chalkboard-like material lining the walls. He eventually brought his gaze back down to squint at a smirking Evan. "Well? Was I wrong for bringing you here?" 

Jaren rolled his eyes. "Fact is, you still woke me up at ass o'clock in the morning to bring me to whatever the hell this is-"

"Welcome!" 

The unexpected greeting suprised Jaren enough for him to painfully fall off his seat. On the floor, he glared up at Evan who was failing to hide his laughter behind his hands.  A face leaned over the counter and smiled down at him. 

"Hi, sorry about that," at least the stranger had the decency to sound regretful, "Do you need help?" 

Jaren shook his head, face flushed with embarrassment. He brushed himself off and sat himself safely back on his stool.  He took in the stranger in front of him, lean, with a dark green apron over a plain sweater, soft brown hair perfectly framing a pale face. Green-blue orbs had a warmth and sparkle that could put anyone in a trance if they stared too long. The sheepish grin erased any contempt Jaren could have had from being shocked so suddenly.

Evan clasped his hands together as his laughter finally stopped. "Alright! Smitty, meet John."

Jaren stuck his hand out.

"John, meet the milkbag." 

John glady reached over the counter and shook it. "So. Smitty, huh?" he questioned.

Jaren ignored the tingling in his hand as he leaned away from the counter. "Yup. Smit, Smitty, Milkbag, whatever works."

"Not uncommon for names to be... sensitive information here." John nodded solemnly and Evan took reins on the conversation. He introduced John as the owner of The Noose, a cafe/ ice-cream parlour/ local hangout for degenerates. ("By degenerates I mean our friend group, who you'll meet soon enough. Really nothing that bad about the youth in this town." )

Meanwhile, John busied himself behind the counter, disappearing out back for a moment before returning with servings of ice-cream. Three paper cups were laid out in front of them, tiramisu for Evan, regular chocolate for John himself and a raspberry ripple for Jaren. The latter of which looked confusingly down and his serving.

"Raspberry's my favourite," he said blankly.

John paused and tried not to cringe at himself. "Uh, is it?" he laughed awkwardly, "I just assumed, haha. Think of it as a trick of the trade." God, John hoped he bought that. He watched the other's reaction for a moment, silently cursing his slip up. He let out the breath he was holding when the younger shrugged and scooped up a bite. 

Evan, oblivious to the interaction beside him, kept his talking about anything he deemed was important for Jaren to know. "...Speaking of the guys, you've got to meet them soon. They've heard enough about you from me, I think we'll all get along fine."

Back to wearing his cool and confident demeanour, John chuckled softly. He urged Evan to eat his ice-cream while he told Jaren more about himself.

He spoke of how he came to open The Noose, the idea pulled from his past experiences as a young teen who desperately needed a place to escape from everything. "The name is fitting for a place that's main purpose is to be something to turn to when you want everything to just stop."

John explained the peculiar operating hours of his small establishment. 5pm to 11am, the peak hours for his target customers. 

The longer the three of them carried the conversation, the more Jaren felt as though he's known John for forever. There was something odd about all this, because he knew that the feeling was not just from how easily the other could match his energy, but from something entirely different. He decided to ignore it for the moment, focusing instead on keeping the good first impression.

Only when Jaren started yawning did they realise the time. John cleared the counter as the other two got up to leave. 

"I'll expect to see you two later, right? It was nice to meet you, Smitty."

"Nice to meet you John."