32

Junior had not known how much time he was cramped up in that closet space. He didn't even know if he slept through anything. How long had he been up there? Minutes? Hours? What time even was it? He couldn't ask Jeffy, since he needed to stay as quiet as possible. All he could hear was the boy playing his cat piano and messing around with stuff in his room. He swore he could also hear a cheerio box being shaken...

Jeffy stopped humping his cheerio box for a moment to remember what time it was. He looked out the window and saw the sun setting. "It's almost dinner time... my daddy better not feed me green beans or I'm throwing the table next." He said to himself.

Dinner time... well, at least Junior now had a general timeframe to go off of. He decided that he'd been there for about 2 hours, and it was now 5:30. 'Yeah... that sounds about right...' he thought to himself. He wished he had anything to keep him occupied other than his own thoughts. A pen and paper, a Thomas the train toy, hell, even a stick would do. He laid his head back onto the wall behind him, closing his eyes and hoping that he could fall asleep at least for a little while.

Jeffy stared at the box Junior was behind. He wanted to help Junior out as much as he could. He'd been in his shoes once before, and Junior was his friend. He had to. He also was thinking of how to sneak him out of the house and to school in the morning. He figured him being at school was better than him being at home, even if school was legal torture. Food was a problem too, he didn't know what he would give him. It couldn't be too big, but it also had to hold him over for the night.

Jeffy settled on getting him a few snack bars from the pantry. He'd sneak them while he was in the kitchen eating dinner, then give them to Junior when he got to his room and his father was distracted.

"JEFFY! DINNERS READY! IT'S NOT GREEN BEANS SINCE WE RAN OUT!" Marvin called from downstairs. Jeffy shouted back, did a mini happy dance, and went downstairs. On his way to the stairs, he noticed a camera pointing right towards him.

"Well, fuck." He said to himself. He knew sneaking food to Junior was going to be a lot harder now, since whoever would be watching him. He shrugged it off for now, going down the stairs and to the kitchen. In there he saw both his parents, Bowser, and 3 boxes of pizza. "If there's green beans on my pizza I'm gonna take a dump on it." He said, knowing his daddy's tricks.

"There isn't, Jeffy. We just got it delivered since none of us felt like cooking tonight." Marvin responded.

"Yeah, and Chef criminal isn't here anymore, and I got a D- in cooking class." Bowser added, including a jab at the now ex-chef.

"Well shit, bum me a slice, dadday!" Jeffy said, smiling with his hands on his hips.

Marvin sighed before grabbing Jeffy's plate and handing it to him. "Don't cuss, Jeffy." He deadpanned.

"It's just a word, daddy." Jeffy sassed back, taking his plate and heading to the kitchen. He snuck into the pantry and got 2 granola bars, then snuck back up the stairs while the adults were talking.

"He'll never learn." Marvin mumbled, face palming to himself.

Jeffy went to his room and shut the door quietly. He then sat his pizza on the bed, and unwrapped both of the granola bars. He stayed quiet for a moment, making sure no one was coming up the stairs. Once he knew the coast was clear, he tip-toed over to his closet, and moved the box that was in front of Junior. Junior had his head laid back, and was staring at the box in front of him, but nearly jumped out of his skin once it was moved. Jeffy handed him the granola bars with a slight struggle since his closet was high up, but Junior managed to grab them.

"I'm gonna see if I can sneak you to school tomorrow, okay? Then you shouldn't have to worry about your daddy for a while." Jeffy whispered. Junior responded with a nod before taking a bite of his first piece of food in a long time. "You need anything?"

Junior thought for a moment. He knew a lot of things he wanted; his phone, his coloring book, a way out of the freaking house. But he could only cram so much into his little cubby hole. "Could you get me a small pillow, and a Thomas?" Junior asked quietly. Jeffy nodded, and walked away to go find his requests, but Junior had another request. "And... if you can, one of Chef PeePee's spare uniforms?" Jeffy looked at him for a moment, before giving him a thumbs up, pushing the box back in front of him, and leaving the room to go find what Junior needed.

Junior hoped Jeffy didn't think he was a weirdo, but at the same time, he didn't care if he did. He missed Chef PeePee a lot. Everytime he thought of what could be happening to him, his heart ached and he felt like crying. He was never a religious kid, but for the first time in a while he prayed. He prayed that Chef PeePee was safe, or as safe as anyone could be in jail. He also prayed for everything to be alright in the end.

But only time could tell.