Work Text:
Ohio and Barnaby are trash partners. Literally. They met on the job when they were assigned to work on the same truck together. Their coworkers always poke fun at Barnabey and made a bet as to how long it would be before Ohio threw them into the back with the trash. To their surprise they got together and Ohio has stood up to their coworkers for them ever since. *** Barnaby and Ohio were sitting side by side in the truck with the heater on full blast. They were warming up and making conversation before their shift started. “I remember one time Jeffry was telling me about a buddy of his. He said as they were driving their route, it was going as usual- well as usual as our line of work can be- when they came up to one of their odd houses- not abandoned or anything but ya know, like 256 on Cherrywood, nothin really wrong but it’s not really right.” He recalled, they had talked about it together, how it never really felt right. “Anyway, he was sayin that his buddy went to the curb and was pickin up their bags, at least 5 or 6 when one of them was really heavy, not really like some badly disposed electronic or something but more like sand or somethin. As he was carrying it back to the truck it ripped, right on the bottom and everything spilled out. It was teeth, coverin the road, hundreds and hundreds.” Though Barnaby was disturbed to say the least but he saw how immersed their partner was in the story and enjoyed watching them, how enthusiastic and engaged he was so they didn’t interrupt. “He was takin too long or something cause his buddy drivin came around and saw.” Ohio continued, “They didn’t know what to do but it wasn’t in their job description to deal with somethin like that, so they finished collecting and just moved on. They were back though, he was warier this time but I don’t know. There must’ve been somethin in him- maybe morbid curiosity?- ‘cause he went poking around in the bags! We’re sanitation workers for fucks sake, not the damn police!” By now Ohio had realized that Barnaby probably didn’t want all the gory details and decided to wrap it up. “Anyway there was more weird shit. It went on and eventually he wasn’t able to hold his job down with the infatuation with this house and got fired.” Ohio sighed, ”All that to say, it’s usually not that hard to avoid weird shit in the bags and in this job if you don’t go lookin for it.” Barnaby agreed and made Ohio promise to never do that himself. They only had a few minutes before they had to start on their route so Barnaby decided it was the best time now. “Oh- O Ohi Ohio?” The first time they met Barnaby was incredibly nervous, they were always incredibly introverted, insecure about their stutter, but they wanted to make a good impression, especially after their coworkers had nagged them about him. They were such an anxious mess that it took a good few minutes for Ohio to calm them down enough to understand what they were saying. Now a days they stuttered a lot less around him but Ohio didn’t mind, he actually found it quite endearing. “Yeah?” Ohio asked with a warm smile on his face. “I- I- I got something for you” they said while looking at their hands. Even though they’re together it doesn’t mean they don’t still get bashful around him. Barnaby handed Ohio a pair of winter working gloves with an electric heater. “I- I noticed that- that your old on- one- es were pr pretty worn and it’s getting cold s so I bought you new ones” They said, finally looking at his face. Ohio looked at them endearingly. “Thank you, darling, they will be put to good use.” Ohio told a blushing Barnaby.