Chapter Text
Bro's alarm woke him up with a jump. He reached over for his phone that lay on his dresser, vibrating with each blast of his alarm. His head was still buried in his pillow and his eyes still closed as he turned off the alarm. After a few moments of silence, he pushed himself off the bed with a grunt and stood up. He did a rough clean up of his bed, straightening out the blanket and fluffing out the pillow, then started getting dressed.
He scratched his chest as he opened his closet doors and stared at the clothes. He grabbed a white tank top and slid it over his body, a few joints cracking and popping, releasing the little tiredness left in the older man. He grabbed his work uniform, a grey and black jacket and dark grey pants.
His work at said company was as the name said, the Cleaners. While his focus was in electricity, the company had a variety of home improvement things, from roofs to deep cleanings. A friend of a friend started it, and Bro Santa started there after his friend recommended him. While he was a mechanic before working there, he was let into the small company with welcome arms, (most likely because they needed all the people they could get).
Luckily, the Cleaners let its employees customize their uniform however they want. Bro kept the original uniform, he never was one for styling, but since it was so well taken among the employees, the cleaners had hired a person specifically for customizing uniforms and tailoring. Due to the wild nature of the young man and his infrequent deadlines, it wasn't too popular with the customers and didn't quite fit in with the home improvement company.
After getting dressed, he slicked back his hair with some gel and tied his bandana around his head. It was a gift from his father before he passed and he treasured it more than any other gift he had. After spraying some cologne and making breakfast he woke up his children, Dear and Guita.
They were from his last relationship, which sadly ended in divorce. He and their mother had ended on good terms, they just weren't a good match. While Bro offered shared custody, since their mother had plans to move back with her mother, on the other side of the country, it wouldn't work out, but she did call.
He walked into Dear's room, the ten year old boy was laying in his messy bed. Like always, he had turned off his alarm and went back to sleep. Bro was trying to get him to break the habit, but he got his father's stubborn side. He shook the boy awake and his eyes opened, immediately glaring at the perpetrator guilty of bothering his slumber.
“C'mon. Wakey wakes, eggs and baccy.” Bro said in the sing-sing baby voice he knew Dear hated.
The boy swung his legs off the bed and grabbed his chewelary and put it over his neck, already chewing on it as he opened his drawer. Bro closed the door behind him and headed to Guita's. He knocked to see if she was already up, which she was.
She opened the door, “Hiya! Is breakfast ready?” She asked in her high pitched energetic voice. Bro didn't know where she got her energy from, neither Bro nor his ex-wife were like that.
“Yeah, waffles, chorizo, and eggs.”
“Yesh! I'm almost done, I'll be out in a second.”
He nodded and headed back to the kitchen. He set their plates at the table. Dear came out and sat on the seat left from his father's and started eating, Guita coming out not a moment later. Dear was in his usual jean overalls, with a black shirt underneath and his far too over-worn shoes. Bro, who in his younger days used to collect sneakers, had an ache in his heart every time he saw the scuffed and dirty black and white shoes. Guita was wearing a greenish-blue hoodie, almost the same shade as her dyed green hair and faded, baggy jeans. Both of his children had dyed their hair. Guita, with her green with just a hint of teal, and Dear with his split dye. Bro never was fond of it, but his ex-wife was and got them into it.
When they finished eating, they loaded up into Bro's minivan. He dropped Guitar off first, since she was in highschool, her classes started earlier, then he dropped off Dear at his elementary.
After a 30 minute drive, he got to work. The company was slowly growing bigger and bigger, he remembered when it was only the boss, the boss's childhood friend and co owner, Semiu, Enjin, and his husband Gris, who wasn't even his boyfriend at the time, and Bro. They didn't even have an actual building, just a website and a dream.
Then he ran into Enjin who was on the phone with someone. Most likely one of his older children, he had quite a few, so it was hard to tell who it was. Bro never expected him to want such a large family, but then again Enjin was always full of surprises. He waved at Bro as he moved his phone in-between his face and neck.
“Yo,wanna come over tonight? Gris is grilling and we're having a couple people over.”
Bro thought about it for a moment, Guita had been wanting to hang out with Enjin's daughter Riyo. The two got along and helped each other dye their hair often.
“Sure, want me to bring some beers?”
“Yeah, that'd be cool. See ya later.” We gave a side hug before parting ways.
The day was busy, many people in and out of the office including Bro. Halfway though the day he started to hate the sight of colored wires from how much he had dealt with them that day.
He picked up Dear after work and headed home. Guita got out before Bro got off, so she walked home. She was making instant noodles on the stove and talking to a friend on the phone.
Bro walked to the kitchen and grabbed whatever leftovers there in the fridge and poked his daughter's side as he walked to the microwave, earning a playful glare and smile.
“You cool with heading over to Enjin's later?” He said, talking louder so Dear could hear him from his room.
Guita perked up with excitement and nodded as she scrapped her noodles into her bowl.
A few hours later, when dusk just started to creep onto the sky and city lights in the distance popped up, they headed over to Enjin's house.
A two story, tan, stucco house with a red tile roof and a white fenced backyard, the wood rotted from age and natural wear from weather. Weeds sprung up around the base of the house and edge of the lawn and drive way. A few cars were in and around the driveway and side walk, most likely from other friends and family Enjin invited. Drinking and grilling on a Friday night was a hard offer to resist for anyone.
Bro parked against the curb and Guita hopped out before he could unbuckle. She ran out to where the red headed teen sat, talking to someone I didn't recognize, a boy with red and white hair. Bro walked up and waved with his free hand.
He set the pack of beer he brought by the cooler and walked to Enjin, they clasped hands and side hugged before Bro took a seat in the folding lawn chair next to him.
“Where's Gris?” Bro asked as Guita handed her sweater to him.
“He's seasoning the meat or something.”
Bro nodded in and soon Gris and Follo, Gris's nephew who he took in and adopted, raising him as his own, walked out and started prepping the grill.
“Hey Bro, nice to have you over again. Been a while.” Gris said and he started laying slabs of meat on the grill.
Bro smiled and nodded as Enjin leaned back in his chair, “Aye, could you grab a beer for me?”
Gris's eyebrows dropped in un-amusement. Enjin held his tattooed hands intertwined with each other, to his face, “Please? You're closer.”
With a scoff and sighed, he reached over, grabbing a glass bottle, chilled and dripping from the ice. He handed one to Bro as well.
“Oh, thanks Gris.”
A group of three walked out, two of them being Gris's work friends who Bro had had few conversations with, since they worked in different sections, and another boy who Bro didn't recognize.
“Hey Rudo!” Enjin called out, catching the boy's attention, “Gris just started grilling, but there's some rice and tamales Delmon brought if you're hungry.”
The boy, named Rudo, shook his head, “Not all that hungry.”
Enjin turned back to bro, “Oh right you haven't met Rudo or Fu? Well this is Rudo” he gestured over to the white haired boy, “And over there is Fu, they're our newest adoptions. “
Bro smiled, "Nice to meet you Rudo, I'm Bro.”
Rudo nodded with a bit of a shy expression, “Nice to meet you too,” he said a little hushed.
He went to sit at the table where the kids were sitting and Guita popped up, “Hiya friend! I'm Guita, we're in the same History class!”
He looked up, “We are?”
She pouted, “C'mon, ya don't remember me? I gave you your paper that one time!”
Bro smiled at Guita's antics, as she started talking about kaijus with that glint she got in her eye when the topic was brought up, usually by her. Dear, who was on his tablet and chewing on his necklace looked up and even through his hard expression with furrowed brows and scrunched face, a glaze of admiration for Rudo was in his eyes.
The night passed slow. Calm and peaceful like the slow fade from a pale blue sky to midnight blue decorated with glimmering stars. The kids ate at the table, playing a game all together, including Follo, though he tried to resist, saying that he was too old for things like playing Roblox, but once he started playing, it seemed like he was the one most into it.
“Hey, where's Zanka? Haven't seen him all night?”
Enjin swallowed the large bite of meat he took before answering, “Last I saw he was in his room playing fortnight or whatever with Jabber”
“Oh, did he finally ask him out?” Bro asked.
“Nah,” Enjin scoffed, “Chickened out. “
“You two are the exact same,” Bro chuckled, his voice echoing from the cup of water he drank, trying to sober himself up from the two or three beers he had.
The kids gradually funneled into the house. And the adults into the garage. The music that played wasn't as loud and heavy as before. Soft chatter with the occasional laugh filled the room. The house was the opposite. Kids running around, loudly laughing, yelling and bickering. More than a handful of times, Zanka's voice yelled out, telling the others to be quiet or to get out of his room, followed by more laughing. Probably because of his voice cracks that were riddled his voice.
When it reached midnight Bro stood up with a yawn and a stretch. “Gonna head out, thanks.”
Gris nodded and smiled and Enjin gave him a shake. When Bro walked in, the kids were sprawled on the couch. Zanka seemingly had joined them sometime during their playing. He and Rudo were bickering softly as they played a game on the TV together. Riyo smiled softly and she braided the asleep Guita's hair. Fu snored with his head tilted back and Dear sandwiched between him and Riyo drooled on his shoulder. Follo seemed to have gone to his and Zanka's shared room.
He shook Guita awake and she said her goodbyes with disappointment as he picked up Dear, which Bro's back did not favor, but his sanity did. He'd rather an ache back for a few minutes than dealing with grumpy Dear.
After shuffling his kids into the car and a few more conversations after saying goodbye twelve times, they headed home.
The next morning, Bro wrote a list of intrusions and chores for Guita and Dear to do, while they stayed home and he headed back to work. He was only slightly drowsier than usual after the night of fun. He worked at a couple of houses, fixing loose plug and such.
Come noon, he was sent out with Eisha, a part time worker, and one of the employees younger sister who got in because of that. The only reason she was let in was because she was the only other person who specialized in electricity besides Bro. They headed to the other side of town. When they exited the work van, an older man was on the phone, his left arm replaced with a metal prosthetic that seemed quite advanced.
When the doors shut he turned his head and said his final words to whoever was on the phone with him and walked over.
“Hey, the Cleaners right?” He said, his voice deep with the slightest rasp and southern accent. “I'm Bundus.”
Bro took his hand and shook it, “I'm Bro and this is Eisha.” The shy younger girl shook the man's hand gently. “So, what's going on?” Bro said as he put his hands on his hips.
“I just bought this building, planning to make it into a bakery, but the whole thing is screwed over, none of the lights are working, plugs don't work, the whole ten miles.”
Bro took a deep breath in as he realized how long this gig might take. They hardly ever got big projects since the company was still growing, but they did pop up every so often.
“Do you know when this building was built?”
Bundus paused for a moment, “I wanna say 1962 or 1963, I'd have to check.”
Bro held in the sigh, this project might last a couple days. “Yep, that's probably it, do you know if there's been any maintenance or work to the wiring?”
“Didn't say anything about it, nah.”
“Alright well, we may need to do a full rewiring, but we'll see.”
On that note the interaction ended, while the building was old, and seeming abandoned for a time, it seemed Bundus had already done some work. The flooring seemed freshly swept and washed, it wasn't nearly as dusty as expected, and there were already some appliances pushed off to the side that hadn't been set up. They were most likely how Bundus figured out the electricity didn't work.
Eisha and Bro analyzed the building and its power system and came to a conclusion that the entire building needed an upgrade since they only had a two prong outlet in most of the plugs, which made sense for the time the house was built. The lighting was in the same condition, and almost everything wasn't up to modern safety codes. And so they got to work. They did end up needing some supplies they didn't have.
While Eisha went off to pick up what they needed from the office and store, Bro walked up to Bundus.
“So, we have to do a complete rewiring of the building, but to do that, we will have to cut into the dry wall, we will of course replace it, but since it will take a little longer, you may end up having to pay more, is that cool?”
“Oh yeah, no problem, good thing I didn't paint yet.”
The two older men chuckled for a minute before they went back to their business. The teen soon came back and handed the supplies to Bro. She offered to cut the dry wall, but Bro was worried she might hurt herself. He mainly let her do simple stuff, worried she might get hurt, which did bother her but she usually ended up winning him over since Bro had a soft spot for the girl with how much she reminded him of Guita.
They cut open the necessary parts and after a few hours of work, they took a break. They stood outside, massaging their aching hands and brushing dust, dust and whatever else was in the walls of the old building. As they two talked, Bundus walked over holding two bags.
“I thought you two might be tired so I got you some coffee and donuts from the coffee shop a little ways down.” His voice was sweet and gentle.
Eisha blushed at the kindness and took it with a soft thank you. Bro did as well, but not nearly as shyly. As they ate, Bro looked at Bundus, who swept up the pieces of broken off dry wall and dirt on the floor. He looked so familiar but he couldn't quite figure out why. He was unique in his mannerisms in such a way that was just so simply distinct, his appearance and voice were one he could place in his memory, but not to a person or face.
After a few minutes of thinking on it, Bro dropped the idea, though it still lingered in the back of his head.
Another few hours passed, a few then it was time to leave. They went back to the company to return the van and clocked out. Bro went home and saw Guita laying on the couch on her stomach, working on homework.
“Hi dad. How was work.”
“Good, you did all the chores?”
“Mhm!” She hummed with a slight squeak.
“And Dear did his?”
“Yup!”
Bro smiled gently and headed to his room after turning off some lights. He went to bed, but the familiarity of Bundus bothered him for quite some time before he did finally push it out of his mind completely and fell asleep.