“Thanks for the ride, buddy. You gonna come up?”

“Yeah, might as well.”

Jimmy had finally decided to head home. Brian had offered to drive him and the older man hadn’t turned it down. At any rate, neither man thought it was worth their time waiting around for their friend to see whether he would come around with Johnny, or not.

The two men trekked up the back stairs of the Laundromat where Jimmy used to work as a teenager but now just rented the space above it. The owner, who was his landlord, waved absently from the shop, a distant smile on his face.

As he waved back, Jimmy muttered to Brian, “He’s pissed at me.”

“Humph, I’m not surprised, you probably take forever to pay rent, and make a mess.”

Brian arrived at the door, which his friend always left unlocked. Jimmy’s view was that no one would ever be bothered breaking into the flat of the sneakiest thief in town. An unusual accolade to heap on oneself, but to be honest, that was what Jimmy was. And also odd, he was quite proud of the fact. It wasn’t that he stole anything of real worth, except for several items of interest to The Creed…but it was mostly random things, like the five trashcan lids that were his pride and joy.

The door creaked open at Brian’s hard push, revealing to the two men a mountain of stuff piled in the middle of the first room.

“Jesus, Rev…how much shit do you have in here?”

“A lotta shit he shouldn’t have.”

They both jumped at the disembodied voice, before realising it was just Zacky. He was slumped in a ratty looking couch, beer gripped in his right hand. His head was cocked to one side, a snide smirk on his face.

“Jesus, Zack, how’d you get in here?” Jimmy asked, half-jokingly.

Brian snorted. “The door was unlocked, Rev.”

“True.”

Zacky nodded. “Yep. Haven’t been here long, though. Shads dropped me off on the corner.”

“Oh, yeah? He headed home, yet?”

Zacky rolled his eyes, his response sharp. “Yeah. ‘bout fucking time too.”

“You sure he went back to his place? Val’s in a right stir about him.”

“Didn’t she go back to work today?”

“Yeah, Shads took her. But she was still upset. We dropped by the council before heading over here. She’s got too many things going in her head, she told us.” Brian walked across to the fridge as he spoke.

Jimmy flopped on the floor next to the mechanic, nodding along to what his friend was explaining. Zacky’s brow furrowed as he listened, absently rubbing a thumb over the mouth of the beer bottle. He said nothing though as Brian continued.

“What with the election and everything…and Shads being a real shit about everything.”

“How do you mean?” Zacky asked. “I hadn’t noticed that?”

Brian eyed him. “Well, I guess it isn’t as bad as all that. He’s just being a stubborn jerk, apparently.”

“What’re you talking about, man? I’m just pissed at him for the whole thing with The Creed. You know that.”

Jimmy lay back on the floor, and stretched his feet out. “It’s not something you would know, right? I mean, you’re not married into the family.”

Brian opened the fridge, peering into see what was available, choosing a bottle of Jack. He glanced over his shoulder at his friends.

“Exactly, it’s only something that Chelle and Val would’ve picked up on.”

“What is it, though? Has he done something to Val?” Zacky got a strained look on his face. “Don’t tell me his famous temper’s gotten the better of him.”

“No, nothing like that,” Brian assured him. “He loves Val too much to ever hurt her.”

“So you say. We all know how shitty Matt can get about the littlest thing.” Zacky took a swig from his beer before he folded his arms over his chest and glared across the room at the other man.

Brian snapped, “But, he’d never take it out on Val. She’d walk if he ever did that.”

Jimmy interrupted then, his tone surprisingly solemn, “The Creed’s killing him. He needs to get out.”

Brian and Zacky turned to him. Neither of them argued with the elder male’s statement. How could they? It was obvious to them that Matthew’s career was taking its toll on him. It was wearing them all down. But, it had destroyed their friend. Or at least, it had worn him out. To outsiders, to people who didn’t know Matthew Sanders the way they did, he looked like he could go on forever in his position. However, he was beginning to fray at the edges and only time would tell whether he would fold or not.

Zacky shook his head at Jimmy before returning his sharp stare to Brian. “So, what was it?”

“They’ve been arguing about a lot of trivial shit,” Brian sighed, propping his shoulder against the fridge door. “Got into a fight over Johnny…and other stuff like that.”

Jimmy gave a crooked grin. “They’re acting like a married couple.”

“Funny that,” Zacky mumbled.

Brian lifted his free shoulder, letting his eyes roam over the junk in the room. “So, Sullivan. What shit have you got in here that you shouldn’t?”

Jimmy just smirked in response, understanding his friend’s need to change the subject. Talking about Matthew could be extremely draining.

“Oh, nothing really.”

Zacky laughed, pushing up from the couch as he leaned over to lift something off a pile next to him.

“You know what this is, Syn?”

Brian tilted his head to one side as he took in what his friend was showing him. It was a worn cardboard case, with an equally faded image on the front of it. Zacky tossed it over to him. He caught it carefully and had to blink twice as he realised what it was he was holding.

“Fuck…this is…” He turned it over his gaze travelling down the back of the case. “AC/DC. This is classic…” He grimaced shooting an almost accusing glare toward Jimmy. “And it’s contraband. Where’d you find this?”

Jimmy chuckled. “Heirrison’s.”

“How do you know it’s a classic, Syn?” Zacky cut in, a confused expression on his face.

“What?”

“I thought you kept your nose clean?”

Brian set the case down, and said, “I won’t break the law, but it doesn’t mean I don’t know anything about the outlaw bands that exist. Don’t forget, my dad’s a session muso. He hears things.” He shrugged. “Anyway, they’re an Australian band. And I’m not sure what sort of laws they have in that country. They might be different to over here.”

“Yeah, makes sense. Still,” Zacky paused looking at Jimmy, “if The Creed catches you with that, and anything else you’ve got hidden here…”

Jimmy rubbed at his jaw, before he muttered gruffly, “I know the consequences. I just don’t give a shit anymore.” He groaned. “It’s unfair. There’s nothing wrong with rock music. There’s nothing wrong with bands. It’s all shit, to be honest. Just a bunch of controlling, Nazi-like leaders wanting to come down on us people for having a good time.”

The three men went silent after his outburst. They just stayed, looking at each other the words sitting like an uncomfortable fourth presence between them. Eventually Brian decided he couldn’t handle the quiet anymore because he started talking again, still on the same subject, but in a slightly lighter tone than what his friend had been using.

“I feel a sense of déjà vu, like we’ve had this conversation before.”

Zacky snorted. “Yeah, wasn’t it just the other day?”

“Feels like there’s nothing much else to talk about these days.”

Jimmy muttered, “It’s what’s always on my mind.”

“Obviously.” Brian frowned then looked down at the AC/DC case again. “Hey, Rev?”

“Yeah?”

“You said you found this at Heirrison’s?”

Jimmy blinked slowly at his friend before nodding in affirmation. “Everything else as well.”

Brian kept his gaze on the case, jaw clenched. Zacky shifted uncomfortably on his seat watching his two friends. Jimmy scowled, before flopping back on the floor.

“So, it was you who took the records from Heirrison’s.” It wasn’t quite a question.

Jimmy rolled onto his side, as he pulled his long legs up into his chest. He nodded again, a tiny smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“Crap,” Brian stated in a rough voice. “That’s just bad all round. If Matt finds out about this…”

“You won’t tell him?” Jimmy almost pouted at his best friend.

Brian closed his eyes and held out a hand to the elder man, shaking his head. “No.” His tone was reluctant as if he hated the thought of withholding secrets from his other friends. “No,” he repeated in a low voice. “Not unless he asks me directly.”

“Whaddya mean?” Jimmy screwed up his face.

“He means if Shads came along and asked him ‘was it Jimmy who took those records?’ he’d say yes. Right, Syn?” Zacky asked, in as equally low a tone as the other man.

Brian nodded tightly, his features drawn.

“Aw, fuck, Brian.” Jimmy slapped a palm against the floor.

Brian opened his eyes and met his friend’s pained look. “I can’t lie to Matt.”

“Well…yeah, but he won’t ask. Will he?”

“Probably not. He’s got too much else to think about,” Zacky pointed out. “What with Johnny and all.”

“Yeah. Tell us about that,” Brian turned to look at the mechanic. “You were with them all morning?”

Zacky looked thoughtful for a moment. He gazed down into his beer bottle, as if the answers to everything that had happened in the past few days could be found inside the golden liquid. He rubbed at his face, pausing still for several long seconds. Then he looked up again, his expression dark.

“All I got was a lot of unanswered questions.”

“Huh? About what?”

Zacky laughed bitterly. “Matt’s being fucking mysterious.” He dragged the fingers of his left hand through his hair, the spikes sticking up more than usual. “But, about Johnny…” He grimaced. “We took him to see his parents. That was good, actually.”

Brian raised his eyebrows. “Wow. I haven’t heard from the Seward’s in a long time. How are they doing?”

“Considering all the shit they’ve been through? Pretty well, actually.” Zacky smiled faintly. “They were so happy to see Johnny, though.”

“I can imagine.” Brian leaned more against the fridge, toying with the cap on his bottle. “Six years is a long time to not see your son.”

“Yeah, very true.” Zacky sucked at the piercings on his bottom lip, thinking on his friend’s statement for a moment.

“What’s Matt being mysterious about?” Jimmy asked, seemingly out of the blue, interrupting the flow of the conversation.

Zacky scoffed in reply, “Trust you to ask that.”

“Well, you know me. You can’t just mention something like that off the cuff without expecting me to make a comment about it.”

“Yeah, we know you,” Brian drawled in an amused tone. Jimmy was always into the obscure details that nobody else would normally pick up. Since they’d first met at school he’d forever been known for being a sticky-beak. Getting into everyone’s business and managing to drag the weirdest and wonderful tidbits of information from the people he met.

“So?” Jimmy asked while waggling his eyebrows. “What was up with Matt?”

Zacky sighed, shaking his head. “I can’t say.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t fuckin’ know!” The exasperation in the mechanic’s voice was enough to make the other two men realise that whatever it was that Matt had done or said was really bothering him. And that he wasn’t just saying that their friend was acting strange; something really was up.

Jimmy wrinkled the bridge of his nose. “That’s crazy…wonder what’s going on with him?”

Zacky shook his head some more, and leaned it back against the chair. “I don’t know…he says he’s gonna explain shit…but he hasn’t said anything, yet.”

“What’s he got to explain?” Brian asked, his brow furrowing at the thought that their friend had stuff hidden from them.

“Oh, just some shit that happened with Johnny…” Zacky sounded pissed, and his tone suggested he wanted the subject dropped.

Jimmy was like a dog with a bone, though, because he came back with, “What shit with Johnny?”

“Ugh…I don’t even wanna talk about it…” Zacky grimaced as if he’d tasted something bad. “And, anyway, Shads made me promise not to say anything.” In fact, Matthew had practically ordered him not to tell anyone. He’d been extremely forceful about it. But, Zack didn’t want to think on that, because it made it look like Matt was being an ogre, and he wasn’t. The big man had just seemed overly stressed and that had bothered him.

“So, you do know what’s up with Matt,” Jimmy said, his eyebrows lifting higher.

“No. I don’t know what’s up with him. I know what I saw today, but that doesn’t mean I know what’s going on.” Zacky shut his eyes, resting his beer bottle against his stomach as he slid down in the chair.

“That doesn’t even make any sense,” Jimmy muttered.

Brian added, “That doesn’t sound like Shads.”

Zacky flipped them off, snapping back, “Yeah, well that’s how it is.” He opened his eyes and glared at them both. “Don’t ask me to try and tell you shit I don’t know.”

Brian held his hands up in a placating gesture. Jimmy slapped his palms against his knees in an exasperated motion. However, he said nothing; even he knew when to let things go, though, he took longer than most people.

They went quiet for a few moments, again. Zacky sipped from his bottle, Brian did the same. Jimmy shuffled onto his stomach and gazed at his two friends. The silence stretched on, until Jimmy couldn’t handle it anymore.

Jumping up to his feet, he grinned down at them. “Let me show you something.”

Brian frowned. “Not something else illegal?”

“No,” Jimmy smiled. “Nothing like that. Just…” He paused as he went behind the couch, and with a loud clatter, dragged out the rig he’d set up. “This is what I’ve been working on.”

Zacky leaned forward on his seat, blinking hard. Brian set his bottle down and stared at the object perched in front of them.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Jimmy chuckled. Over the past few weeks, he had gathered not only his prized trashcan lids, but also an assortment of metal pipes, and using his rare talent for metal work, he had soldered the pieces together. In a nutshell he had created a makeshift drum kit. And it was what he’d been using to help create his masterpiece.

“Yep. Requiem of a Garbologist will see the light of day, very soon,” Jimmy announced, his face splitting into the widest, brightest grin anyone could imagine.

Brian groaned, “Unbelievable…”

Zacky, though, couldn’t help but laugh. The expression on Jimmy’s face was just too comical for words, and the mechanic needed something to latch onto that wasn’t depressing or a mood killer. After the discussion they’d just had about Matt, anything, no matter how insane, or stupid, was better than going through that again. And hearing about Jimmy’s escapades, whatever they were, was always the best antidote to a shitty day.

Always. Nothing ever changed there, and that was a good thing.