"This is bullshit." You faked a smile and waved off another pretentious, arrogant customer. "Driving a car worth more than my yearly salary and this asshole can't even give me a decent tip." You took the few small, crumpled dollar bills from the dusty tray and stuffed them into your pocket. "Why do we even come here every day."

"Pays the bills, doesn't it?" Shaun said waving the next car towards the entrance.

"You're a funny man Shaun... did anybody ever tell you that?" Shaun took the keys from the presumed banker... stockbroker... what ever other bullshit jobs that just existed to feed money into the pockets of the already affluent and ushered them through the entrance, you watched as the well-dressed woman placed something gently into Shaun's hand.

"Sometimes, but this funny man just netted himself a twenty." Shaun held the crisp note up proudly towards the sun before folding it and gently placing it into his top pocket. "It's all about the smile, this place might pay your bills if you put some actual effort into being able to talk to people." He shrugged smugly.

"Very good. Proud of yourself?" You asked with a dropped face. "I just feel like there's more to life than standing in a parking lot and driving other peoples fancy cars while I can barely afford the payments on my death-trap of a car, you know?" Shaun nodded in subtle agreement. "My friend, we, are destined for some kind of greatness in this world, you know what I mean?"

"Trust me, our life isn't exactly luxury but its simple. We go to bed at night, we wake up, we eat... whatever. It might be boring but its consistent and it's safe."

"Safe? We live in a not exactly nice part of San Francisco, do you know how many times I've been mugged on my walk home from this hellhole?" Shaun chuckled as he played with the keys to the vehicle that he had been entrusted with.

"Maybe safe was a bit of an overstatement but at least we don't live in New York... bad stuff always seems to go down with the avengers over there. I don't care how cheap the rent gets you won't catch me renting an apartment over there. Sure it wont cost nearly as much as it used to but insurance still doesn't cover alien attacks or the hulk smashing through your windows."

~*~

Written by Aaron.