they needed to get their damn lock fixed. it didn’t matter, jess’d come to realise, that neena had been a walking, talking good luck charm for the majority of her life. luck always ran out of eventually, and for every unassuming shred of fortune neena toted around on her shoulders, jess buckled beneath the weight of the opposite. if she let herself fall hard enough into her own thoughts, jess would think it was funny the way life worked out, shoving the two of them together to make some god awful cocktail of luck & misfortune. funny in the gut-wrenching, soul-crushing, emptying-out way.
at least she’d wrapped up her last case for the week. a dull ache in jessica’s feet had been nagging at her since monday morning & though she’d been happy to numb it with painkillers for the first few days, it was starting to catch up to her. the aching feet were damn well worth the money, though, and jess had been careful to pocket it for later, ‘til she could shove it in the stash beside her bed, in the back right corner of the third drawer. not for her. never for her. for them – for the people who had lost a child, a wife, a husband at her once-merciless hands. they always sat motionless in the back of her mind, staring & staring & staring until something else stole her attention away. for a little while. something else like the still-steaming bag of chinese food she’d brought back with her, that’d been unceremoniously dumped on the counter in jessica’s usual bout of hastiness. once the rustle of plastic halted, a small glance was paid to her surroundings, a floor with shoes & clothes strewn about, a couch with damned dog hairs on it from the stray they’d had for a week. shit, they needed this place to be clean by next monday. shit. fuck.
❝ NEENA!!! ❞ loud as it was (and it was – loud enough for doug three doors down to report a noise complaint for the third time this month), her tone lacked its usual spite, as it always seemed to with her. when footsteps followed, a half-there gaze landed on neena almost immediately, squinting for a second or three at the faded red on her shirt. ❝ i bought dinner. that better be ketchup, stupid. ❞
god she was fucking tired. neena had been working job after job after goddamn job for the past couple of weeks. as soon as she stopped to rest her feet or you know… sleep… her phone would buzz again. someone else who needed a merc. who even needed a merc at four a clock in the morning? someone every single night apparently. but she couldn’t complain. wouldn’t complain. the money was too good to be turning down these jobs, & that was something that seemed to forever be in short supply. for someone who was “lucky”, life sure knew how to fuck her around.
she had just sat down on her bed after the decision to turn her phone off completely. one shoe had been kicked off at the doorway & the other was in the process of being pushed off when she heard the door open —- somewhat of a relief flooding through her at the realisation jess was finally home, too. god, it felt like she hadn’t seen her roommate in months, despite it only being a day or so. give or take. work days were always long & hard fought, full of people she’d much rather slog straight in the jaw than heed to their issues. so seeing jess’s face automatically brought fourth a smile. no matter how weak & tired it looked.
“yeaaaaaahhhhhh…”she started, glancing down to the irregular red splotch against her typically dull work uniform. she wished she could confidently answer jess’s question…. but the truth was she had no idea who’s blood it was. hers? her 6pm appointment? maybe it was her 4pm? she didn’t know & right now she didn’t even care that she had a goddamn bloodstain on her top. i’d wash out. maybe. hopefully. new uniforms were so expensive to make, fucking hell. “i have no idea. i mean i’m not bleedin’ anymore if it was mine anyways.” the smell of piping hot chinese wafted through her like a demon would, eyes closing & letting out something that’d resemble a moan if she were being honest. “anyone ever tell you that you’re worth more, jessica jones?” she had a moment’s contemplation to get out some bowls but said a mental fuck it & grabbed two forks instead. bowls were for people with energy. “you finish that case?”
