ʀᴀɪꜱɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ ➸ Jacob Barber

𝓂𝒾𝓈𝓈𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒸𝓁𝒶𝓈𝓈𝓂𝒶𝓉𝑒

Y/N's alarm sounded off, causing her to stir before finally peeling her eyes open and summoning the energy needed to slam his hand down onto it- shutting it off until the next day. Wednesdays were the worst. Y/N always hated Wednesdays.

Climbing out of bed, she groaned and stretched herself out the best she could manage before sitting herself down on the floor for a few minutes. Just to allow herself time to wake up. From the other room, she could hear Jacob's alarm blaring out too. He made no attempt to shut it off.

She could hear the alarm sound bleeding through the walls of their new house. She glanced around her new room- her own room- and tried to send a mental message to Jacob, to get him to shut off his stupid alarm. 

But, the same as every morning, it never quite worked. 

"Come on." Y/N groaned to herself before standing up and leaving her bedroom, feet storming down against the cold floor as the walked. It was too early for this nonsense. She arrived down the hall, outside of Jacob's bedroom. His door was decorated with some 'keep out' tape, which always made Andy feel uneasy. He'd asked him to consider re-decorating a few times, telling him that it reminded him far too much of some gruesome cases he'd worked on. But Jacob refused. How very 'teenage-boy' of him.

Y/N went to place her hand down on the door handle- the alarm still sounding out from within- she considered knocking first but she'd really just lost all patience, the alarm was driving her crazy.

She swung the door open, stepped inside and saw Jacob sat on his bed just scrolling through his phone. Already dressed and everything. Y/N exhaled harshly as he looked up at her, eyes confused and partly concerned too. 

"Morning?" He asked, over the sound of his alarm. Looking at her as if she were an escaped mental-patient. What was she doing here? His looked told her. Why does she look so angry first thing in the morning?

Y/N sighed and shook her head, looking down at the ground for a moment to comprehend the level of idiocy she was faced with dealing with. She looked back up at him. "Your alarm? Why is it still on, you-" She pointed at the alarm a mere arm-reach away from him, "It's literally right there, Jake."

Jacob looked over at his alarm, shaped like a panda eating bamboo as if it were some alien object he'd never quite interacted with before. "I always leave it on, to wake you up." He looked back over at her, looking her up and down. "But, I guess you're up now, so..." He reached over and finally shut off the alarm clock. Silence finally greeting them both. 

"I have my own alarm."

"I know."

"You-" Y/N began to speak, readying herself to launch into a speech about how she was always up before him, about how he really didn't need to let that alarm blare out every morning, but she figured it was a pointless argument. She shook her head and chuckled softly. "Right. Well. I'm going to go and get ready." Y/N told him, watching him look back at her with a grin before leaving his room to get ready for the day.

༄༄༄༄༄

Mr Barber was sat at the dining table, surrounded by newspapers and brown-papered files. Each had the eerie red-stamp on the front. 

Confidential.

He was dressed for the day, white shirt, black tie and trousers. Looked like he'd be heading into the office again. Jacob sat in front of him, eating a waffle.

Y/N headed down the stairs and and entered the kitchen, looking over at the two of them. Mr Barber looked up from his piles and piles of papers and smiled at her. "Morning, kiddo. Waffles are next to the toaster if you want one." 

"Thanks, Andy." She returned the smile and watched him turn back to his papers. It wasn't exactly a new sight to see. Andy was a very busy man and always had some sort of big project going on down at the office, but those were a lot of papers. Even for Mr Barber. 

Don't ask. Don't ask. Don't ask. 

"What you got going on over there, Dad?" Jacob asked casually, not at all put off by the big 'confidential' stamps. He just eyed his father curiously and took another big bite of his waffle. 

"Some kid's just got himself lost. Probably ran away, if I'm being honest. Daniel Clark. Do you guys know him?" Andy asked them both, although it was fairly obvious he was just trying to make conversation.

Jacob and Y/N glanced at each other before shaking their heads. 

"Well, the parents are getting ready to sue anyone when they find him. Friend of a friend. I'm just helping them out." Andy sighed and picked up his cup of coffee, taking a sip. "Most flawed case I've ever had the misfortune of working on. Kid ran away." He finished, clearly done with the whole case.

Y/N walked over to the dining table and picked up her school bag, patting Andy on the shoulder as she walked passed him. "Don't worry, Andy. I'm sure the kid will show up sooner or later. The parents will probably be so happy he's back that they'll let this whole thing slide." She gave the man a reassuring smile before throwing her bag on her back and nodding over at Jacob, picking at his waffle. "Come on, Jake, don't wanna be late for school."

Jacob reluctantly stood up and picked up his own bag, shooting Y/N a grin. "Actually, you don't want to be late for school. I couldn't care less."

He reached around the table to hug his Dad over the shoulders as Y/N headed to the door. "See you later, Dad." He told him before following Y/N out of the house. Ready for a new day.