Panic Room

Chapter 4- 'Quiet Time'

Axel, Juno, and Claire all were forced the wait together with officers in the surprisingly other large library.

Juno sat down in a chair, leaning back lazily as Axel and Claire stood awkwardly, the tension in the room was getting to the three of them as they were all ignored by the officers in the room who were currently trying to figure out what had happened to the security cameras.

"Didn't take Zakou for much of a reader." Claire quietly said to herself, Axel glancing over at her and rolling his eyes.

"Actually, most of these are mine."

Claire leaned back against the table she was in front of, giving her attention to Axel.

"Really? Didn't know you could read." She said casually, looking at her nails as Axel felt his anger rising.

"I'm actually a writer." He said through gritted teeth as Claire tried not to smirk at how easy it was to get a rise out of him.

The two of them had met a few times, never truly interacting much though, it was also Claire and Zakou who would go at it. They were constantly trying to outdo each other, trying to get the show first anywhere in the city they could, trying to win over more fans, and who had the most things and money in general.

Axel had never really had friends, or liked people in general. Same with Zakou, the two were almost never separated, Axel practically living in the Rosales mansion at this point. Hence all of his books being in Zakou's library.

They'd all fallen back into silence, seeing no point in furthering the conversation that would just end up getting both of them heated and even more suspicious looking.

"What kinda entertainment did Zakou even have to make him so... popular?" Juno suddenly asked, still staring up at the ceiling and leaning back in his chair as both Claire and Axel looked at him.

After receiving no response, Juno lifted his head up to see the other two looking at him with utter confusion.

He shrugged, placing his hands behind his head while his gaze flickered between the two. "I don't really get out much." He admitted while Axel straightened his posture a bit, holding his jacket professionally.

"He put on plays, theatrical performances. I wrote them." Axel told him with a slightly prideful smile, Claire snorting a little.

"That's why they were so bad!" She laughed, grinning as she narrowed her eyes at Axel who tightened his grip on his jacket.

"Grip to hard and your knuckles will turn white!" Claire teased, leaning forward slightly before Juno groaned, his chair hitting back on the floor correctly in with a loud bang.

"Can you two just kiss and make up or something already? I'm sick of hearing you two bicker like children and I've barely been around you for twenty minutes."

Claire just crossed her arms, rolling her eyes as she looked away from both boys as Axel merely glanced to the side as well.

"Much better, now you, tall boy. What was your relationship to Zakou? Besides being his good for nothing writer."

Axel sighed loudly, clenching his fists with annoyance. "I was his... friend. We were very close." Axel said, choosing to ignore Juno's comment but getting quieter the more he spoke, looking down at the ground, Claire feeling guilt wash over her for insulting the one who was probably in the most pain.

"Friend? Am I sensing some romantic vibes here? Not that I'd judge, he was pretty fucking hot." Juno said casually, nodding his head a bit as Axel felt his face heat up.

"No, no no, I've known him since we were kids... and how dare you talk about him like that." He replied, his face burning a bit more now, he couldn't tell whether it was because of his anger or being flustered.

"Oh well, he's dead now anyway."

"Do you have any kind of respect?" Claire suddenly spat angrily, looking over at Juno with disgust as Axel stayed quiet from the comment.

"What is wrong with you? At this rate I'm almost certain that you were the one to kill him, you act like a sociopath. You've hardly displayed like, any emotion since I first saw you!"

Juno stared hard at her, before slowly standing up and shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I'm aware, I don't look like the most," He paused, waving his hand in the air as he thought. "Trustworthy person."

"And yes, maybe I lack the ability to show some emotions, but believe me when I say this,"

Claire felt her heart in her throat, cowering back a little as Juno looked at her, a dark look in his eyes.

"I, did not kill him, and you better stay outta my way little girl." He snarled, brushing off his pants before sitting back down with a huff. She shouldn't be allowed to talk to him like that.

"Now look, I'm all worked up. I swear, I should be back home right now." He mumbled, watching as Claire slowly stood back up straight again, her making eye contact with Axel.

"Hey, Juno, what kind of business do you run exactly?" He asked hesitantly while Claire messed around with the sleeves of her dress.

"Ugh, if you must know, I run it with a friend, basically we help people with money problems mostly. Like that redheaded girl apparently. But we'll also do... other tasks, long as we get paid."

Claire looked confused for a moment as she wondered what he meant by 'other tasks'.

Juno then looked at Axel with an unreadable expression, moving the hair out of his face.

"I'm, very sure, you've heard of us, Axel. No more questions about me though."

Axel swallowed nervously, nodding slowly before turning to look at Claire.

"Your turn singer lady. What are you doing in this city? I've heard you're new around here." Juno asked as Claire refocused on the two of them.

"Well, I moved here because of Kira actually. I hadn't seen her in a year or two and she told me that since there wasn't a lot of competition for singing that I could probably get some good gigs here. I never really wanted to be a super famous singer anyways."

"Why?" Axel asked quickly, clearing his throat before rephrasing. "I mean, who doesn't wanna be well known?"

Claire nodded a bit, a faint smile appearing on her face.

"I'm well known here, and I have a few friends, that's all I really need. Being famous seems like it would just corrupt you, fame always gets to your head in my opinion."

"You wanna be famous or somethin' Axel? Why you asking?" Juno asked suspiciously, averting his gaze to Axel who began stammering as the door to the room was pushed open.

Axel let out a sigh of relief, but tensed up again instantly Kira and Ari walked in. Ari looking pretty shaken up as she walked over to where the other three were.

Kira on the other hand headed over to Officer Sacchi, and handed her a slip of paper.

"Hey, do me a favor and send someone to this address, ask for Jay Allen. He's Arianna's assistant and I wanna question him on a few things dealing with the case." She told her quietly, Sachhi nodded, taking the paper and turning to another officer.

"What happened in there?" Claire asked nervously, taking in Ari's trembling form. The redhead glanced up at all of them.

"It's just, it's just nerve racking." She replied quietly, Juno flipping through a book he'd grabbed as Kira walked over to the four of them.

"Axel, you're next. C'mon." She told him, the taller boy taking a deep breath, looking very nervous as the two of them made their way towards the door. 

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Unedited

Word Count: 1344

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