Reader x Droog: Watching and Listening

(A/N: Okay, I know this is slightly AU, just... Bare with me!)


    You remembered it like it was yesterday. He got back to the speak-easy before it even opened to guests... Which was weird for him, since he technically wasn't your boss, his friend was. At the same time though thinking of him was the LAST thing you wanted to do.
     You had been working at the speak-easy's bar for... Oh.. A little under a month now, and had already gotten yourself a name for being a good employee with your boss, Spades Slick. It's not that you were the most knowledgeable in drinks, or even the fact that you could chug out the small shots with great speed or skill... It's because you were naturally charismatic and good at keeping the party going... Spades just used your natural talents to pay you, and the two of you got on relatively well.... It was his stupid second-hand-man, Droog who seemed to hate your guts.
     Ever since you met him, you two had been at odds ends... Always knowing where the other was. Droog admitted you were a good bartender... But he constantly made it clear that you were always late for work, sloppy, a bit of a trouble-magnet, and you had no spine... Like wise, you admitted he ran the place so it worked like a well oiled machine, but he was passive, irritating, pompous, and picky.
      He nagged you constantly for things you expected your mother to do. "You need to wipe the bar. YOU spilled some whiskey," "You need to stop flirting with people at the bar and get back to orders," "You're ten minutes late for work... Do you even have a watch?" "That dropped glass is coming out of your pay-check."
     OOOOOH... He drove you NUTS.
     He sat down at a table- not in his office- and began fiddling with a package of things on the table.
     Naturally you didn't want to go anywhere near him because you were just so certain he'd set his flat and eloquent wrath upon you. Why provoke him now if he was just going to yell at you later?
     After a good two minutes you lost yourself in wiping some martini-glasses free of water, and about five minutes after that, you were jabbed in the shoulder, by one of your fellow bar-tenders.
     "Um, Droog called ya."
     You looked up to see Droog standing, not  three feet from the chair he had been at, arms crossed, foot tapping, and his face in a tight-lipped frown.
     Aurgh.
     You wiped your hands on the towel before walking over... It was a little early to be starting this, but it was him. You really had no choice.
      "Yes? Need something?" you asked, trying to hold your tongue and not sound as irritated as you really were.
     Droog's frown went from one of slight agitation to one that just... lacked interest. "Taking your job seriously?"
     "I was fixing the wet glass thing myself...." Seeing as though you yell at me if they aren't dry. "Is there a problem?" You weren't even trying to hide the fact that you'd rather be spending time doing the dishes, than talking with him.
     He didn't seem to care.
     "Are you right-handed, ___________?" he asked frankly.
     A confused expression crossed your features. "Umm... Yeah, why do you want to know?"
     "Good. Then hold out your left arm."
     You gave him a slightly wary look before sighing and crossing your arms, relaxing a bit. There was no way whatever he was about to say would shock you. "... Okay, what did I do now? Seriously. Don't keep me in suspense."
     He gave you a scrutinizing look. "... Do you honestly think all I do is find something wrong with you? Really?"
     Actually, yes I do. "Of course not, but you seem very intent on only talking to me when I've done something to upset you." Which seems dang near always.
     
     For a moment Droog stared at you, before he let out a frustrated sigh. "Just hold out your left arm. I'm not going to bite it off."
     ... Could he bite it off?... Wasn't that someone else? You wondered, but hesitantly held out your arm, palm-up to him...
      He slipped a watch around your wrist, snapping the back so that the face rested on the inside of  your hand. "There... It's made out of steel so it won't break very easily, but don't go trying to do it anyway..."
     You brought your hand up to your face, eyeing the metal masterpiece he had put on your wrist with a rather stunned look. "Wait... Why are you-"
     To all your surprise he smiled, not so much at you, but at the face you made. "You told me last time you were thirty minutes late for work that you relied on the bus-routes for time, and that if you had known your bus was late you would have walked to work. So I got you a watch."
     … He payed attention to that? You could have sworn he tuned that part out of your explanation... It seemed like him to just ignore people. He ignored Slick and the rest of his friends almost constantly while looking into the daily paper.... He's certainly never done anything as nice as this for them, that you could remember.
     "Oh..." Surprise surprise. He had a heart after all. "OH!... Um...." Your arm shot down to it's side, intent on not gawking. "T-thank you, Droog!"
     When you looked back up to him his slightly amused demeanor had been -once again- replaced by his sour face. "That being said- if you're late like that again, you'll get an earful, and I will talk to Slick."
     "Right..." Always a catch to everything, wasn't there? "I'll go get back to work now then..." you said as you began to walk off to the bar. Yaaayyy another day another dime... Oh well, at least you had a watch now...
     "Oh, and  smile __________.... You're a much cuter bird when you smile."
     …. NNNNNGGGHH....

     Hours later, in the early hours of morning, after you had left, the Midnight Crew sat gathered around a table in the back, playing poker as they did almost daily.
     "So Droog got the broad he likes something~" Slick suddenly chimed, causing Droog to nearly drop his cigarrette in his lap. "And called her cute."
     "Really?! How'd she take it?"
     ".... I will kill you for this."
     "Yeah,yeah. Like I haven't heard that before."