"Joseph! What is taking you so long with that stocking?" Ms. McClain spun around the corner and glared at Joey.
"Sorry, ma'am," he replied hurriedly. "I'm having a bit of trouble telling what's good and - "
"Don't wanna hear it. How hard is it really? Take the bad fruit off and put the good stuff on. You're taking twice as long as you should be. Hurry it up."
"Y-yes ma'am."
She walked off as Joey sighed in defeat and stared at the mountains of fruit. Check which ones were bad and replace them with good ones. It sounded so simple. But how much brown was too much brown? She'd gotten mad at him when he pulled what he thought was unsaleable, saying it would still sell, so he was completely confused.
"Trouble?" Justice asked, leaving the register to check on him.
"Sorry. I'm still not sure how exactly to tell which fruit I need to pull."
"It's more art than science," Justice said with a chuckle. "This one, it's borderline. Technically we should pull it since we do the restock once a week, but if it sells today it'll be fine. It probably won't, so we should theoretically pull it, but Crystal hates throwing 'profits' out. So we leave it."
He went through most of the rest of the fruit, explaining his thought process with each of them to Joey. By the time Justice was done with the stack, about a quarter of it had been pulled.
"And now you just grab fruit from that crate of new stuff and pile it on until the display looks full. And don't examine the new stuff too closely. Some of it might be mushy, but we won't worry about it. The new stock goes out, no questions asked. Lest Crystal bite all our heads off."
"Thanks," Joey said, smiling despite himself at Justice's wink.
"If you need any more help, just ask." He headed back to the register, stretching as he went.
Joey nodded and started piling the new fruit on, then took the crates back to their respective storage areas and moved on to the next display.
This time, he hoped he was just a little faster. He'd been getting better with everything, but he was still trying to absorb all the information he needed. Thanks to Justice's advice, he managed better today, but probably still too slow for Ms. McClain's liking.
After the restocking, he headed for his lunch break. As he slumped into his chair, he glanced over at the other guy in the break room, just about to return to work.
"This place sucks, huh?" he said with a grimace. Joey didn't know how to reply so he just shrugged.
"It's a job I guess."
"No, this place is really bad." The other guy - Zaid maybe - sat across from Joey and sighed. "You only get one break - minimum required by law - and they refuse to pay us properly. And the work's hard. Like, I could be two blocks away selling pastries and get paid more for less effort."
"Wouldn't you have to make the pastries? That sounds like a lot of work."
"No, they had a position for just a salesperson. Sit at a counter and sell cake all day. Sucks I didn't get the job."
"I guess that's why we're here," Joey said. "Green's is the one that hired us."
"Yeah, but I'm quitting as soon as I find something - anything - else. What about you? Still looking for something better?"
"Uh..." Joey didn't know how to say no to that. Would it make him seem unambitious? Lazy? But...having a job long-term was a good thing right? Showed future employers you were willing to stick to it?
Luckily, Justice chose that exact moment to stick his head in.
"Zaido, your break was over thirty seconds ago. I don't care, but Crystal will. Also I need someone to clean up a cooler spill. Someone dropped and busted a milk container."
"Great," Zaid muttered, standing and leaving the room.
Joey grabbed his lunch and ate as quickly as he could.
"Another shift over, huh?" Justice said, stretching against the lockers. Joey chuckled.
"Yup. And now we do it all again tomorrow."
"Speaking of, I won't be here, but Anahi will probably get you to take our new order in and store it."
Joey nodded. "Sounds doable."
"Seriously man, be careful with it. Don't let Anahi make you do all of it. She is perfectly capable of carrying those massive crates and you don't want to wreck your back or anything."
"I will. I'm trying to get stronger anyway, so this might actually be good for that."
"You are a weird one, Joey," Justice laughed. "If I said this to anyone else, they'd be complaining about it. And I don't blame 'em. Those crates are heavy."
"Sorry," Joey replied.
"Don't apologize. I like your initiative. Means you'll probably stick around. We appreciate that. We know how much this job sucks, but someone's gotta do it."
"If you could work any job, what would it be?" Joey asked. He didn't know why he was asking, but he was curious. Justice seemed so well-adjusted here, but he was talking like he didn't like the job either.
"Now that's a question." Justice chuckled and looked up, lost in thought. "Any job I want, huh? I dunno. I'm going to school for kinesiology, so something in that field I guess?"
"You're going to school?" Joey asked in disbelief. How did he manage school and a nearly full-time job?
"Been going to school for...six years now maybe? At first I wanted to do something with chemistry, then I decided I didn't like it and switched to engineering, which was like way too hard. Then it was programming and now I'm in kinesiology. Got three more years in that, assuming I can keep up with my class schedule."
"That sounds like a lot of switching," Joey said. "Guess you've got a wide knowledge base then?"
"Something like that. What about you? Any scholarly plans?"
"Oh boy. Um...I took psychology for a year. Now I'm just doing this."
"Psychology, huh? Never got it, but it sounds like a tough gig. Didn't like it?"
"No, I loved it, but..."
"Something happen?"
"I was in an accident in October and a lot of stuff happened." Joey sighed.
"Oof. You okay?"
"Yeah, I've managed to recover, but I don't think I can go back to school now."
"Well, Green's will have you as long as you're willing to work for us. That'll at least put food on the table and get you somewhere to live."
Joey nodded and they fell silent as they left the store for the day. When they were outside, Justice suddenly clapped his hands as if remembering something.
"Oh yeah! Y'know that Legion stuff?"
"Huh? You mean Achilles?" Joey felt apprehensive at the topic, but tried his best to hide it. At least Justice didn't seem to notice.
"Yeah, him and Jumper and Lightning. And the new guy, I can't remember his name. Anyway, check this out." Justice tapped on his phone for a bit before showing it to Joey.
It was a website.
A website for Achilles' Legion.
And taking up half the screen was a brand new recruitment poster.
"What's this?" Joey asked tentatively.
"Legion's recruiting again. Looking for new people to help defend the city and whatever." Justice put his phone back in his pocket. "Pretty flashy, aren't they?"
"They are definitely hard to miss," Joey chuckled.
"Wanna grab a coffee? On me."
"Sure?" Joey hesitantly accepted, wary of what Justice wanted.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I just wanna hang out a bit. You seem like a good guy. If you've got somewhere to be, don't let me hold you up."
"No, I don't mind. It just feels sudden. Also, I don't really drink coffee, so I'll just get a water or something."
"Hot chocolate? They've got a super yummy milk hot chocolate. Like, it's half almond milk, it's really good."
"Sure."
"Yes! So. On the way, wanna let me nerd out?"
"With regard to?"
"This Legion stuff. I mean, it kind of feels like we're living in a movie right?"
Joey just chuckled in response.
You have no idea, he thought. His entire life was a complete upside down mess.
"Anyway, who's your favorite super out of the three? Achilles, Jumper or Lightning?"
Joey's voice froze. How did he answer this? Especially since one of the choices was, in fact, him.
"I think Lightning's the coolest. Steady head, simple power, beats up bad guys quick." Justice glanced at him and Joey nodded, forcing a smile.
"Yeah, Lightning is definitely the coolest." Despite the awkwardness, he agreed with that sentiment wholeheartedly.
"Jumper's also pretty cool. You don't see him much, but when you do see him, you know something cool's about to happen."
"Really?" Joey asked, trying to keep his face impassive as embarrassment threatened to overwhelm him.
"Yeah. I mean, he's been there for every one of the big attacks, right? And he's always been pretty reliable. Remember back when he saved Achilles in that popcorn bag?"
Oh yes. Joey remembered that very well, though he would have been happy to forget.
"Jumper's never going to live that down is he?" Joey asked, chuckling.
"Hey, it was cool. Here's a guy with no costume, just a superpower, saving the day. And did you see the footage? His hands were so messed up after."
Yes. Yes they were.
"And then of course there's Achilles. The most famous, the first, the leader. He's pretty cool, but I think the other two are cooler. I mean, Achilles seems to have a habit of getting himself into trouble. Like a damsel in distress."
Joey couldn't help but laugh at that assessment.
"Hey, it's true. Phantasma got him pretty good that first time. He only got out because of Jumper. And then Paris captures him and uses him as a human shield. And wasn't there some other incident where he had to be saved from Phantasma?"
"Sorry, it's just funny to see Achilles of all people likened to a damsel in distress." He'd probably hate the comparison.
"Hey, if you had a superpower, what kind would you want?" Justice asked.
"Me? A...um..."
"I'd want to never need sleep or rest. I could get so much more done that way. Or maybe super strength, since that sleep thing wouldn't work well for dealing with crime."
"Who says you need to fight crime with your superpower?" Joey asked.
"Y'know what? You're right. Never needing to sleep! What about you?"
Their conversation continued in that same vein on the way to the coffee shop. Joey thought hard about what kind of power he'd like if he'd been able to choose. Sure his current one was fine, but if he could have anything in the world...
In the end, he couldn't answer Justice. But he definitely enjoyed talking to him, and that hot chocolate was as delicious as he'd promised.
