Stone x Reader

Chapter 5: Staring Right Through

"What? No! I need to pay them off. And he can take me where I need to go." The old driver looked from you, to the strangely happy boy with a bit of worry. "Look, I'll be fine. I've been out here before. And you've already done your job, so you can leave if you want."

He pondered a bit before coming to a conclusion. "Tell you what, I'll wait just outside of this place while you do your business. This thing can't fit in the alleys anyway. Besides an empty carriage'll look suspicious to your folks." That was true. And you really didn't want to walk back again.

"Yeah, that makes sense. Thanks." "It's no problem." David reached inside his overcoat to hand you a small bag. "Alright, there's your 50." You really didn't know what to say. He just helped you out big-time. And all you promised him was keeping a small secret. "Is there anything else I can do to pay you back?" He chuckled, "That's nice of you to think, but keeping my job safe is enough for me. This old man's got nothing else to lose."

David climbed back onto the rickety seat, he slapped the reigns on the horse, and left the both of you with nothing but the echos of hooves and wheels.

Time stood still until Skipp pushed it forward again. "What a nice fella. Come on! Let's go find the others!" You followed Skipp while your thoughts lingered on the humbleness of the old driver. Besides the happy-go-lucky hobo, you already considered him to be the closest thing you had to a friend.            
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        Stone and Vinnie were hanging around their hideout. Stone smoking a cigarette, brooding about everything, and Vinnie was unsuccessfully trying to catch up on sleep.

      After a few more tosses and turns, she waved a white flag. "UGH! Why won't my stupid eyes stay closed?!" "It's because you don't need sleep right now." "Of course I need sleep right now! I'm the brains of this operation, and this operation needs to think of a new scheme!"

      "Says the girl who can't read." "Hey! I... can't think of an insult. Man! It's all cause of that stupid rich kid." "At least the 'stupid rich kid' is paying us." She brightened up at that. "Hey that's right! When do you think they'll show up anyway?" "Does it look like I know?"

      "Naw you're right. That's giving you too much credit." Vinnie looked at him expecting a usual quip. But there was nothing but that stare. "Hey, you're... not gonna say anything back? No cursing me out? Nothin?"

     He wasn't going to do anything. His mind was too busy with the thoughts of last night. "What's been going on with you? Ever since we helped that rich kid out you've been more... you than usual." Stone -as always- deflected the question. "It's nothing." "Dude. You've been doing this weird starey thing a lot. Something besides everything else is wrong."

       "I'm too tired for this shit." he whispered under his breath. All he wanted was to walk away from this topic, this situation, this... everything! And so he did.  "Hey where do ya think you're going?" "Out." "But we're already outside?" He ignored her stupidity and kept on moving... Until he bumped into something.

     "Ah! Sorry!! I'm so sorry!!!" Great. This is exactly what he needed. It's not like he didn't expect to see Y/N again, he just didn't have the patience to deal with the spastic people pleaser.

      "Would you kindly watch where you're going next time?" You hurriedly explained yourself. You couldn't afford take another wrong step!
"Right- I'll do that. Sorry, I was just talking to-"  "Stone!" "Oof!" Skipp tackled the poor drunk with a bear hug. "Would you get off!!"

     Skipp let go of Stone, happy to know that one of his best friends was hugged that day. "Skipp! Where were you?" Vinnie questioned. "Oh I was just enjoying the day, when I almost got ran over." "Wait, what?!" Vinnie shoved Stone out of the way to get to Skipp. "Are you okay?!" "Oh yeah I'm fine! Turns out it was Y/N's carriage. They were trying to find us, but I just found them. Hehe."

     "Wait," Vinnie was starting to put the pieces together. "If you were trying to find us, that means you have the money right?!" She was in your face like a bloodhound sniffing for substances.

     "Woah there! Okay. Yeah, I do. Here it is." She snatched the small bag with her grimy little paws. "All right!!! We're eating good tonight boys!! Y/N, thanks a bunch for doing business with us. I promise you won't regret it."

      You sighed with relief. "I'm just glad it's all said and done." "You can say that again." Stone thought to himself. As Vinnie was listing all the niceties to a paying customer, she stuck her hand in the bag. She paused. She dug around some more. "How deep does this bag go?" She was clearly getting anxious, and looked into it to find:

       "GASP! NOTHING!" You were dumbfounded! "WHAT?! I know there was money in there!!" Vinnie snapped at you, "Well obviously it's not there anymore!!! I knew we shouldn't have worked with a rich kid! You guys always think you're ahead of the game don't you!!!" You tried to reach for the bag, "Let me just see-"

       "NO WAY bub! I bet you're planning to steal the bag too huh?" "I didn't steal the money!" "Well how else did the $50 just up and leave?" "Give it to me." Stone snatched the bag from Vinnie's sticky fingers and examined it. She objected, "Hey-" "I'm just looking."

      It felt like an eternity watching Stone look at the bag. In what was most likely a minute or two, he spotted a small tear at the bottom. Just big enough for a handful of coins to slip through. "Here." He held it up for you all to see. "The money fell through this hole while you were getting here."

       You felt like throwing up. There had to be something you could do! "There has to be something we can do! We- we can look for them and-" Vinnie spat, "Listen! That money is long-gone by now! Us hobos will nab at anything that looks shiny. That $50's most likely being spent on candy or other junk this instant."

       All you could think of doing was apologizing. That's all you were taught to do when you made a mistake. And you thought of David. Poor David! Graciously giving you his hard earned money only for you to mess up! Like always!! Did you think you could handle this?! Of course not!

     You suddenly became a statue. Your posture was made stiff, and your head was sculpted to look down at your shoes in shame. Tears were blurring your eyes and all you could do was feel stupid and sorry. You tried to speak, but your voice was just a whisper. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't know what to say."

    Meanwhile Stone and Vinnie were starting to feel uncomfortable. How do you comfort a crying rich kid? How do you comfort anyone at all? Fortunately one of them knew what to do. You felt a hand on your shoulder and looked up to see Skipp.

"Don't worry Y/N. We'll think of something."