#anyways uh you all might see me rambling about the stupid vampires at some point or maybe not

[moss-is-a-frog]

I need to start talking about my OCs again

[reaperlight]

Do you have any lawryght headcanons?

@greenpactbosmer Thanks for the ask!

Headcanons... ooh boy, well...

(Oh and I saw you had another ask there too but I think I may have misunderstood the prompt/what was being asked? In any case I should probablt edit the paragraphs of brain vomit that came out of that but until then here's more paragraphs of brain vomit, uh... sorry 😔)

Anyway...

Headcanons for lawryght can vary greatly from fic verse to fic verse but let's see curtent HC generally...

These three getting together in a canon-like universe...

The RyukxLight will either be established relationship or at the very least Ryuk is more helpful to Light and his plans than in canon to the point Light feels secure enough in his position so he can give L a chance and not feel like he has to kill him immediately so a relationship could actually develop between Light and L beyond "oh no, he's hot... I still have to kill him." (Also expect Light to be even more arrogant and insufferable because he thinks he's immortal and has the power of deathgod and anime on his side.)

Ryuk and Light getting together: And then they were roommates (oh my they were roommates) and there was only one bed--Shinigami don't really need to sleep but Light doesn't know that and the bed is comfy so Ryuk doesn't fell the need to tell him.

They are both extremely bored. Ryuk is absolutely fascinated with this human--he may not be on Light's side (or so he claims) but the entertainment value is beyond his wildest dreams. He is smitten, even if he doesn't admit it. If Light is curious about something hell try at least once... Or Light may be trying to get free Shinigami eyes out of him and they catch feelings.

L enters the picture... Ryuk doesn't mind sharing 1. Hes immortal and bored and... two interesting humans! This is so cool! 2. Shinigami don't have the same ideas about monogamy. 3. Headcanons about Ryuk vary depending on if rule 36 valid up to this point in the ficverse. (I.e. Chad!Ryuk vs. Virgin!Ryuk)

L and Ryuk--L is very disturbed to learn that his case actually has a supernatural component and is more leery of Ryuk than of Light at first. This lasts for all of the moment it takes to remember that Light is Kira and Ryuk is afraid of tennis balls.

After 5 minutes of soul searching, L can admit to himself he has a thing for monsters--both internal and external.

Assuming they are all alive and this takes place in early canon this shippable version of L is probably more interested in having fun then bringing Kira to justice. Either that or he has become disillusioned with the status quo or hurt and and wants revenge to the point that he's willing to entertain Light's way of doing things.

If its post series, maybe Ryuk is bored so goes looking for Light in Mu and ends up pulling both Light and L out of Mu because their souls are intertwined and once restored as humans or Shinigami or something shippable in the afterlife then it's just learning to rely on each other as they forge a new arrangement in the Shinigami realm.

Top/bottom it's not assigned seating Regardless of bedroom positions or what arrangement they have out of the bedroom Light is the dom/one in charge of this arrangement in bed... but subs L and Ryuk unionize and gang up on him. Light is a dom in bed but not always a top. L as a sub but not always bottom. Ryuk as a service top or power bottom. Ryuk doesn't really feel pain like humans do and will go with whatever he and his partners find interesting.

Contrary to rumor Light and L aren't always fighting over who gets to top. Fighting is for chess matches, clashes of ideology, and the last chocolate eclaire--not the bedroom. Consent, safe words, and mutual respect are all very important.

(The safe word is vegetables)

Light is very dom. In every relationship before or since. Except there's Ryuk, looming over him. Making him feel kinda excited and confused and then theres that stupid sexy voice of his... But ryuk is the exception. (But he might let L fuck him if he asks nicely and submits to Kira's reign.)

When they sleep together Ryuk likes to keep them both wrapped in his wings. He likes being the little spoon sometimes though...

L gets Ryuk addicted to apple desserts.

Light frequently ends up cleaning up after the other two. Ryuk helps when he remembers but typically L is a brat.

Light: How can you stand to live like this?

Ryuk: I was formed in a dustbowl.

Light: Yes, it shows.

L [throwing candy wrappers on the ground]: Why are you doing that, that's what Watari is for?

Others who might potentially join the polycule under the right set of circumstances: B, Mikami, Aiber, Matsuda...

Some very noncanon AU ideas...

Superhero aus (current wips)

Winning and ruling the world(s) au (current wips)

Light gets in trouble (of either a mundane or supernatural variety) and Ryuk goes to L to ask for his help because he's the only human he can think of who would be clever enough to help Light and because of supernatural restrictions Ryuk can't save Light by himself. L is annoyed to have his fun ruined by having it confirmed that Light is Kira in this way, pissed that Light could get himself into a situation like this, and also pissed at himself that Ryuk doesn't even need to threaten him to want to risk everything to save him. After they save Light, L decides there's no point in continuing the kira case because it no longer interests him. He returns INTERPOLs money and after Light recovers from his ordeal the three go on vacation looking for something interesting but less hazardous than their previous ordeal. L becomes fascinated with the supernatural and wants to go ghost and cryptid hunting, seeking out ancient mysteries and Ryuk has plenty of leads in that. Light is still more interested in becoming god of the new world but "fine, if you guys insist..." (he doesn't want to admit he's having fun too). They drive around in L's pink crepe van huntjng ghosts, solving mysteries. Light occasionally writes the names of murderous jerks and people who are assholes to L thst they meet along the way while Ryuk laughs and L scowls in a mildly disapproving way but never really discourages him.

Au inverting the dynamics so its established relationship of lawlight first and then Ryuk joins the polycule: AU where Light and L are the same age and are childhood friends and when Light finds the Death Note they become Kira together. Ryuk is fascinated by them both and slowburn they realize their feelings for each other.

Or... Human!Ryuk and mundane college AU Ryuk is in a metal band and is probably studying art and helps rival law students Ligtt and L to chill... at least until Ryuk gets in trouble for drug possession and then Light and L compete to be his better defense counsel.

Monster AU werewolf or vampire au that's canon adjacent--Ryuk bites Light, Light goes on to monster better than Ryuk does then Light bites L, the monster hunter who falls for him...

7. Haunted house au

8. The quarantine au--Light is annoyed because now killing as Kira feels rather pointless. L is annoyed because this is boring. Ryuk is having a blast because they're playing with him a whole lot more. If L and Light doesn't just use the L screen, Ryuk is always in the background, having floating, juggling apples photobomb the zoom calls.

And suddenly Ryuk is important.

Ryuk runs errand for them because he has no danger of catching the plague. They play video games, watch movies, bitch at each other, and get into pointless arguments over stupid things.

Also L makes them custom masks modeled after Ryuk's fangs just because.

Other ideas:

Wammys house and lawryght

Option 1: Wammy's house tooth rotting fluff, adopting all the orphans

Option 2: Wammy's house evil, B was right. It's really just about being raised as a weapon. It's like the stormtrooper program for genius orphans that may not have actually been orphans before the institute took an interest in them.

Option 3: Wammy's house complicated. The institute really is trying to do better, is the best place for the kids and while not perfect its closest thing to home/family they have.

Lawryght and Morality

These 3 can be awful enablers of each other's worst qualities. Then again...

Light: Huh, Ryuk thinks we're going too far. Maybe we should rethink this.

L [already has the prisoner tied up and being forced to listen to polka music on repeat]: But where's the fun in that?

Finding a home together

With Kira and a Shinigami as his boyfriend L feels secure enough to do more normal things he's been denied all his life.

With Ryuks help, Light finds the names of all of L's major enemies and gets to writing in the Death Note.

Light: Be mad if you want. I'm not sorry.

L tries to be mad, and fails. He can't help but feel relieved that they're gone.

He might even entertain the thought of having a permanent address.

He still enjoys traveling though.

Also L gets a kitten

The cat loves chasing Ryuk's feathers.

The cat likes Light's lap the best because Light went out of his way not to look at the cat.

....

Ah, that was probably way too long. But thanks for letting me ramble! 😆

[babyitsacrime]

1, 22, 23, and 43 for the OC asks.

First off, I apologize for my absolutely atrocious grammar here and also the fact that I just can’t seem to put things into words.

Secondly I wrote this in a different app and then copy pasted so the formatting is a little whack.

1. Your first OC ever?

Oh gosh this one is a little hard to answer. I think Natalia’s my first OC that I ever fully wrote well but me and my friends used to write a lot of stories/fanfiction in middle school so I have some characters from there too that might be older than Nat. Also there’s like three different versions of Nat (Quizup, Next Gen, and the Nat I have now) , and again the one I have right now is by far the most developed/closest to a whole character.

Okay but I talk about Nat a lot so even though I’m not sure which one actually came first I’ll talk about a character I had in the Homestuck fanfiction my friends and I wrote in middle school. (before you ask, yes it’s the 100 page one I’m pretty sure) (also I’m ignoring the self inserts me n my friends made for our other stories bc those don’t count as ocs and I refuse to accept them as characters dhdksjdjs) But basically she’s a troll named Ninmah Aurora. She was heavily based off of Kanaya Maryam, the iconic Homestuck vampire fashion designer lesbian character so that was interesting. And even though I didn’t actually write that much for her she’s one of my favorite characters because I had so much fun writing her with my friends. Anyways can’t believe I just exposed myself as a Homestuck stan on main but you know what it’s fine.

22. Is there any OC of yours that people tend to mischaracterize? If yes, how?

Okay there’s a couple and most of them are small things so I’ll just go by character.

Natalia -

let me just start by saying this: it still baffles me why y’all think she’s cool cshdjsj. She’s kinda a dumb bitch if I’m being honest. Like, don’t get me wrong, she’s super smart and could easily outwit me and honestly any of us, but she’s also plain stupid sometimes in other ways. But like, on the other side of the coin I feel like she almost doesn’t get taken seriously sometimes? I feel like that’s a little on me for usually making jokes at her expense but while she is clueless as to how people function she’s also not plain dumb. A lot of what she says and does is well calculated and even when she does something in the spur of the moment it’s always something logical to her. Hn I don’t know if I’m explaining this right but 🤷♀️. But basically she’s not really cool but also she’s not stupid. (Okay ig being good at Quidditch is pretty cool but that’s not my point)

Also I don’t know why but some people (very few people but it’s still annoying to me) seem to think that her being bi is a huge part of her personality when it’s really not. While she is bi, not everything she does is motivated by that fact if that makes any sense. Like for example, if she’s wearing be a rainbow dress it’s not because she’s (and I quote) "team gay" it’s because she liked the damn dress. Okay I’m rambling now but all I’m saying is that it kinda annoys me when people see her being bi as a hugely defining personality trait. Also she isn’t the only character I notice this happens to.

Ishaan -

Similarly to Nat, whole he does enjoy pranking and such, he’s actually a serious person most of the time. Think of him as more of like a serious and skeptical person who also has a good sense of humor. Although I will say that he does sometimes go out of his way to make a joke sometimes, that’s only sometimes and mostly just to annoy Priya.

Lysander -

Another case of the being gay isn’t his personality. Also??? He’s not gay??? I don’t really know where that came from (like I know who mentioned it to me but I have no clue where she got that from aside from just assuming?) for the record, he is also bi and has a slight preference for girls (mostly bc he likes having an s/o shorter than him but we won’t go into that rn). *slams fists on table* jUST BECAUSE HES FUNNY DOESNT MEAN HES THE TOKEN GAY FRIEND OKAY (okay okay I’m done ranting time to continue)

I also feel like his joking nature is often seen as a sign of him not being as a lack of intellect, but that is in no way true. While he isn’t a genius or anything, he’s a little smarter than average, yet still prone to making dumb decisions because he is still a child. But with more life experience he’ll make smarter decisions while still retaining a joking demeanor.

Priya -

I’m going to keep this one short, but she isn’t as cold and cruel as I sometimes make her seem when I talk about her. I feel like this one’s mostly on me but yeah, she’s a caring person for the most part, just a little misguided and/or dramatic at times.

~I think that’s all of them but I might be wrong? Also none of those explanations make a lot of sense I’m sorry 😔~

23. Introduce an OC that has changed from what your first idea considering what the character would be like.

*drags Nat out again* Here you go.

So I mentioned earlier that there’s like three different versions of her, but in all reality they almost feel like different characters with the same name. However I will say that Next Gen Nat and the Nat I have now (I like to call it her final form bc I think I’m finally happy with her) are similar in many many aspects. But I’ll talk about this Nat because I like her the best and she’s the only Nat I actively use. She was originally intended to be a lot colder/closed off than she is. (Think a lot closer to Aster, but I think pep also had a similar thing with him.) She just ended up becoming a lot softer and a little friendlier than I intended her to be. I’m not exactly unhappy with that though, I feel like this actually added a bit more dimension to her character and it actually gave me a little more room to improve her. It was also bound to happen anyways, especially with the characters she’s friends with/will be friends with. So yeah, it’s interesting and honestly I feel like I’m happy with the changes from what I originally intended her to be.

Hm while I’m here I guess I should also talk about Taemoon.

I don’t know that his personality changed much from my original intent, but his story and intent definitely did. He started as a character that exuded a lack of hope. I don’t know if that sentence makes a lot of sense, but he was originally going to have no chance at happiness in the end. He was supposed to let all of his anger and hurt consume him, making him hell bent on revenge, which would only push him further from anything that could make him happy, but I feel like the end of his story is a lot more hopeful now. I don’t know exactly what it is, but ever since pep asked if Jae Hong could adopt him Taemoon’s life story has become something a lot less disheartening. Now I’ve given him a lot more to live for, and a lot more to make him happy. First off, instead of being alone he now has a family that he quickly grows to trust, and a group of friends with similar experiences that basically become family as well. While he is still very revenge driven, he has a lot more to his life than just that; most importantly he has people he trusts that will keep him from becoming consumed by all of his anger. But yeah, he has become a much more hopeful character as a whole and honestly. I feel like that’s what I really needed. Idk about everyone else but I feel like changing his story to the way it is now really has helped me to feel a lot better in general.

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favor certain traits or looks?

Oh god it’s time to confess 😔🤙

So, as most of you have figured out, most of my ocs tend to be very attractive and very capable (and willing) to step on me. If they’re not that then they’re in the minority.

Aside from being physically attractive as a whole, I’d say that in regards to looks, the more they look like they haven’t slept in weeks and are ready to kill a man, the better. If not that, then it’s an oc that looks like I could cuddle with them for hours on end. There’s no in between.

As for traits I tend to favor, probably the most popular is a bad attitude. If you take a look at some of my most used and/or favorite characters, you’ll find that in most cases the snarkier the better. Honestly this is true of characters that aren’t even mine, I just really have a type. At the same time though, I like these characters to have a secret soft side even if it’s only for one other character they care about. On the flip side, I also like writing characters that are genuinely the nicest people you’ll ever meet. I don’t know why but I just love them so much they are truly my children.

Also. Characters that grin in the face of danger? *chefs kiss* I like characters where you question if what they’re doing is out of courage or a death wish. For this reason so many of my characters play some kind of dangerous sport or enjoy dueling, you get what I mean. This goes for both my Edgy™️ characters as well as my soft characters.

Additionally, I do have a lot of characters that are wealthy. Uh. I think that mostly speaks for itself so I’m not going to comment on it any further than this.

Also. Flowers. For some reason I go for faceclaims that eat flowers. It’s not even something I actively seek out??? Like I’ll find someone cute and I’ll be scrolling through pictures and there they are. Eating a flower. This mostly goes for my guy fcs but yeah. Idk how it happens but it just does and I’ve come to accept it.

[dottie-wan-kenobi]

Hey! A bit ago I saw that you were wondering if anyone was interested in a tutorial on dialogue?? And I just wanted to say that I would totally love to learn how to write dialogue/banter like you do, if you’re still interested in creating that tutorial of course

Hi yes of course I’m still interested!! But before I jump in, let me say that this is by no means a be-all-end-all, and this is just what works for me. If it works for other people, that’s great! If it doesn’t, that’s totally valid! Maybe this could be a jumping off point for other pieces of advice, idk. But anyway, let’s gooooo

Okay so I’m gonna be pulling out a bad example of my own writing, and a good example for each point, which is extra but will hopefully show the differences, & I’ll be doing it without putting anyone else down so yeet!

SAY IT OUT LOUD, MAKE SURE IT FLOWS, MAKE SURE IT MAKES SENSE

Another point to this one is, can you imagine real life people saying it? If the answer is no, then you gotta rework it. If the answer is yes, then yay!

Otherwise I’m not really sure how to explain this. Making sure it makes sense is easy enough, and saying it out loud is too, but making sure it flows is different. What I do for this is maybe not the best advice, but I use less periods. Commas, dashes, and ellipses keep it from being choppy. Also, adding words/phrases such as ‘well’, ‘like’, ‘I mean’, ‘uh/um/er/etc’ can help connect sentences/thoughts together in a realistic way.

BAD EXAMPLE:

“Bruce shrugged. “I knew, but didn’t realize, I guess. I’ve known he was young since I first learned about him.”

Clint, who was blanching, said, “he looks like a kid. Or an underage father. Think about what he had to go through as a kid, though."” - posted on July 1st, 2014

Why it’s bad: (Ignoring the horrible blocking dskljflksdf)

It doesn’t flow! Bruce’s line here feels just a little off, probably bc I was trying to put information where it shouldn’t have been (more on that later), but even without the second sentence, it’s still off. Time to reword, then; I’d change it to “I learned about it when I was studying him, but I kinda…forgot.” Idk about yall, but I can see Mark Ruffalo saying this, shrugging sheepishly. This flows a lot better and in my experience, it’s more likely someone would say this instead of “I didn’t realize, I guess”.

Clint’s lines should be combined, and there should be some diction added in. “He looks almost like a kid, or like, an underage father. God, think about what he had to go through!” Way less choppy & has some rhythm to it, instead of sounding like a robot is saying it.

GOOD EXAMPLE:

““Stop texting me weird stuff so late at night.”

“It’s not weird,” Sam denies immediately, “You just don’t appreciate it.”

“Why would I appreciate—” Steve reads carefully off his screen, “—Buzzfeed’s ‘Which Possible Illuminati Member Are You?’ quiz?”

“Because everyone thinks you’re in the Illuminati anyway, so why not see if you get yourself, you know?”

“Okay, but at four am? What were you even doing up that early?”” - posted on March 2nd, 2019

Why it’s good:

This is one of those I suggest reading out loud to understand the flow. Banter, at least in this case, is like slapstick comedy, and it’s gotta go back and forth without going way off course (unless that’s the desired effect!). Steve says something, Sam picks something specific to react to & adds a comment that makes it seem like they’ve maybe had this conversation before, and from there, they pass the rhythm to each other. Going from the second-to-last to the last lines is part of the flow; Sam makes a point that Steve doesn’t want to refute, so he continues it in another way. “Okay, but” is like the hinge connecting one flow to another. I’m just talking in circles now but anYWAY THIS IS BACK AND FORTH.

TRY TO FIT THE CHARACTER

Think specifically about the character, and if it sounds like something they would say or not. That’s kinda hard at times, so just make sure you aren’t having them say things you can definitely NOT imagine them saying. I’m gonna go with Batman because we all know him enough to know what he absolutely would never ever say.

BAD EXAMPLE:

Batman says, “And I was like, ‘oh my god, is this serious? You’re just turning yourself in?’ And he said ‘hell yeah I am!’ and I almost died from the shock!”

Why it’s bad: 

Batman is a character who doesn’t ramble and wouldn’t retell an event like this (by paraphrasing it & recounting exact exchanges). He’s a very stoic person, and this whole thing is more emotionally open and telling than he would be comfortable with. And while this flows, I can’t picture him saying it unless it’s a heavily AU’d version, which is generally not what you want.

GOOD EXAMPLE:

Batman says, “The Joker turned himself in last night. I assume he’s planning something, something big if he’s willing to go to Arkham for it.”

Why it’s good: 

This is a lot more subtle with the emotions, and a lot more monotonous, which is what Batman would probably want to sound like when recounting an event like this. He WANTS to sound like a textbook or police report, which are serious and straight to the point. But he can still add his thoughts into the mix, e.g. “something big…”, which shows how he’s kind of surprised and is thinking about what it means.

YA CAN’T ALWAYS INPUT INFORMATION INTO THE DIALOGUE

Sometimes you really want or need to share some information with the readers, and an easy way to do that is with dialogue, right? Sometimes! This, like everything else, hinges on flow & the realisticness of the words. Some pieces of info need to be conveyed through thoughts or actions, and some of it just shouldn’t be shared, no matter how much you might want to include it.

BAD EXAMPLE:

“Bonnie asked, “so…Original vampire? What does that mean, exactly? If you don’t mind my asking, I mean.”

“It means that my siblings and I were turned into the very first vampires after the death of my youngest brother. Also turned were my father, sister-in-law, and nephew. All vampires in existence come from us.”” - posted on March 6th, 2017

Why it’s bad: 

The OG vampire in question here is Elijah, and while it makes sense for the character to quickly summarize it, it doesn’t flow. He would probably react firstly to Bonnie’s last sentence, then answer more concisely, “It means that my family and I are the first vampires in existence.” Maybe with an additional comment about them being the source of all other vampires, but not much more. Being so specific chops up the rhythm and makes it harder to understand, almost, ‘cause that’s a lot of people to keep in consideration.

GOOD EXAMPLE:

““What are you talking about, Kev?” Cheryl sets her phone down, the picture of fully-invested. “Schools don’t just shut down in one day.”

Kevin flops into the other chair, breathing calmed for the most part. “Apparently they do. Dad told me they arrested a teacher there for selling Jingle Jangle to students, and when they were going through his office they found meth. The basement was being used as a meth lab. The whole thing’s being quarantined and shut down until further notice.”” - posted on August 2nd, 2018

Why it’s good: 

It flows!!! For being secondhand information, it’s clear enough to understand without bombarding readers with extremely specific details. It reads almost like an online article, with enough feeling to make it interesting, while still explaining exactly what’s happened.

DIFFERENT MOODS/DYNAMICS

Something to think about when writing dialogue is what mood your characters are in, and what kind of relationship they have with the character(s) they’re talking to. If person A is in a bad mood and talking to someone they like, they might try to tamp down on the mood in order to be nice. If person B is in a great mood and talking to a stranger, they might be pretty exuberant and friendly. Etc etc. Gonna use Superman as an example (this is extremely cheesy but it shows the difference).

BAD EXAMPLE: (Mood)

Extremely annoyed, Superman tells Lex Luthor, “Lex, you’re crazy! Trying to take over Metropolis with a hair growing scheme is just stupid! I’m leaving!”

He goes on to his date with Lois, now as Clark Kent, and says with a smile, “Sorry I’m fifty-seven minutes late, Lex kept me at work! Anyway, how was your day?”

Why it’s bad: 

Okay I know this is cheesy I’m sorry I wrote this at 2 am last night lkdjflksjdfhskjdfhjashf ANYWAY. Superman goes from talking to Lex, who he doesn’t like and is quite annoyed with, to talking to Lois, who he does like and presumably isn’t annoyed with at all. The problem here is that you usually can’t turn moods off like a switch. Even though Superman likes Lois, he wouldn’t walk into the date perfectly happy. The annoyance from dealing with Lex would stay with him (though it would probably fade the longer the date went on). I think instead of smiling, he would be rolling his eyes a little and complaining like, “I swear, he’s so inconsiderate….”, instead of immediately jumping into “how was your day?”

GOOD EXAMPLE: (Dynamic)

Superman laughs as Robin does a flip off his shoulder. “Good job! Maybe next time we could try it from a little higher up,” he winks.

Robin cheers, “Yes! Thanks, Uncle Clark!”

Superman nods and leaves, finding Batman in the hallway. Seriously, he says, “Batman.”

“Superman.”

“Did you get your report done? They’re due by this afternoon.”

Why it’s good: 

Again with the cheese that’s my bad lmao. This is mostly to show that characters are gonna sound different when speaking to different people. When talking to Robin, who is a child and quite a friendly one at that, Superman is teasing and joking around. Then, when he talks to Batman, who’s a grown man and also his coworker, he’s more serious and to the point. Both situations fit his character but show he’s got different relationships with different people.

IN CONCLUSION, uhhhhh yeah follow these points and hopefully dialogue will come a little easier. Experiment and have fun with it (these aren’t rules, but guidelines!), and if there are any questions I’m happy to clear them up/answer them/whatever lol.

[btspremiumtrash]

Cirque de Bangtan (j.jk x p.jm) part 2

⇓ Ship: Jeongguk x Jimin

⇓ Genre: Series, Non-idol! AU, Enemies to Lovers, Supernatural AU, Circus AU, Eventual Smut

⇓ Summary: Jeongguk recently moved from Busan to big city Seoul. His parents kicked him out. Something about “You’re 22 and still living with your parents. Get the hell out and get a damn job!”

He couldn’t hear them as he was two steps ahead of them by packing up his bags and slamming the door in their faces. Every interview he got, he never heard back from them. Most of his days were spent just trying to find somewhere to rest his head and drown his sorrows. Life is hard when things aren’t spoon-fed to you as Jeongguk comes to realize.

Now he’s all by his lonesome. Luckily for him, he finds a flyer. A potential job. A circus job yes, but he was desperate for any sort of payment. Little did he know, life as he knew it was about to get a whole lot more interesting... Werewolves. Vampires. Clowns. Not even God could prepare Jeongguk for the complete turnaround on his once normal lifestyle.

⇓ Word ct.: 3.9k

⇓ Warnings: cussing, pg-13

⇓ Chapter 1

Masterlist

Jeongguk was woken up by his alarm he set for himself at an ungodly—6:00 pm—hour. He wanted to get a head start for the new job that he had to be there for at 8:00 pm for his first opening performance. 

His new job. 

Those three words were still new to him. He couldn’t believe that in a few hours, he would be working his first shift. Doing something he was already doing, granted. But baby steps. Now he was getting paid real money. Or so he hoped. 

With newfound motivation in his steps, he cleaned himself up, parted his hair to the side, put on some black tight-fitting jeans along with a black graphic T-shirt, and was on his way out the door. He greeted the very nice and cute receptionist, Lalisa, on his way out. Her auburn bangs covered her luscious eyebrows while the rest of her hair was in a professional bun. 

Lisa, as he likes to call her, was Jeongguk’s first friend outside of the ones his father forced him to keep in touch with. Big names like Kim Jennie and Mark Lee whose families worked together with the Jeons, hence why they wanted their kids to stay in touch if something were to ever happen to their successful businesses. It was always business first and family second with big names like theirs. 

But Lisa was different. She was a foreigner. Her family started this hotel business when they got to Korea and prided themselves on bringing their Thai traditions of hospitality to Seoul and many other parts of South Korea. She grew up in the hospitality business and therefore knew how to comfort a lost soul like Jeongguk’s. She was the first person he ever spoke to that didn’t know about him, his name, his family, anything like that, and therefore he began to enlighten her about himself. It didn’t hurt his pride because, at that point in his life, he didn’t have any pride left. 

“You look like you’ve got somewhere to be, huh?” She grinned. 

Jeongguk stopped and walked up to her desk, giving her the same closed smile she cast his way. “Yeah. I finally got a job! Can you believe it?” 

Shaking her head, she shrugged. “Can’t say that I do, Mr. Jeon, but if you say so...” She dragged until an idea came to mind. “Where do you work? Maybe I can end my shift early and drive you there if you want.” 

Jeongguk froze. He didn’t want Lisa to find out he worked at a circus. His pride was finally kicking off and having Lisa drive him to his job would only knock it right back down again. He couldn’t afford that. Maybe some other time when he sees just how well they pay him. But he had to make up some sort of excuse that she would buy. 

He shook his head. “Oh, I don’t think you have to drive me there. It’s only a fifteen-minute walk from here. I think I can manage. Thank you though.” 

“Of course! Just be back here at a reasonable time tonight. Clients were a little upset to hear you and whatever company you brought over outside their door at 1 am. I don’t feel like vouching for you again.” 

Company? Jeongguk remembered that Jimin walked him home the other night, and not out of the kindness of his heart. He wondered if Jimin even had a heart with the way he argued to Jimin about having a hotel being his permanent residence instead of an actual apartment. He kept rambling on about his poor life decisions as if he knew the shit he went through. He didn’t know a damn thing. He slammed the door on his face when he heard enough. Note to self: Don’t force Park Jimin to take you home. 

“This is where you live?” 

They just arrived at Jeongguk’s hotel room. Odd, Jeongguk thought since he quite vividly remembers Jimin saying that once they get to his block, he’s going home. Now he was standing right outside his place. Great. Maybe he won’t try and murder him in his sleep if he fucks up a performance, Jeongguk hoped. Despite the mental image of Jimin using a knife to slit his throat and laughing manically, Jeongguk still kept a level head. Getting the keycard out of his pocket, Jeongguk nonchalantly said, “It is. Problem?” 

“Uh, yeah.” Jimin scoffed. “Why the fuck do you not live in an apartment like every other sane person?” 

Jeongguk turned his attention toward the older man. He looked him up and down to see if he was seriously judging his lifestyle right now and sure enough, based on how deadly serious he looked, he wasn’t joking. “Who the fuck are you to judge?” 

“Aren’t you a Jeon? You couldn’t have gone for a penthouse—” 

Oh no. He played the family name card. Wrong move. Jeongguk pushed Jimin to the nearby wall and pinned him there. “Listen here, asshole. Yes, I’m a fucking Jeon. I’m Jeon Jeongguk. And I bought this hotel room because I didn’t feel like putting an even bigger dent in my pocket than I already have. But don’t think that because of my last name that I’m loaded. I wouldn’t need this stupid fucking job anyway—” 

Jimin heard just about enough. Before he could insult his job, Jimin pushed Jeongguk back to his door, making a loud thud sound. Probably the noise the neighbors were complaining about to Lisa. Growling, Jimin locked eyes with the younger man—who was, unfortunately, taller than him and therefore had to look up to see him but that didn’t stop the sheer dominance he radiated off his body—and said, “Choose your next words very carefully, little one. I see now why your parents set you free on your own, brat. Now before I do something I may regret, I’m going to say this once and only once: Insult the circus or anyone working in Cirque de Bangtan, I will make your life even worse than it already is. You may have money, but I have claws. And trust me, they work a hell of a lot better than money.” 

Jimin lets go of Jeongguk, who could hardly breathe even after being let go of. He’s gotten death threats on Overwatch before. But nothing like this. And no one like him. He was truly terrified. He dared ask what he meant by claws. Real claws? No way, werewolves don’t exist. But could they? He’s starting to think that they could. 

Regardless, Jeongguk mustered up whatever courage he had left to let himself in his hotel room, slamming the door shut in fear that Jimin would try something. But to his surprise, Jimin didn’t kick down his door and slit his throat. Instead, he sighed and said, “Don’t be late tomorrow night. You’ve got the 8-10 shift.” 

Jeongguk didn’t reply, too afraid that his voice might reflect how scared he was. He heard Jimin’s footsteps echoing down the hallway back to the elevator. Finally, he was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief. 

There’s no way he signed up for this kind of job, right? It's not even Day 1 and he’s already gotten a death threat from his coworker. He felt a lump grow in his throat as he struggled to swallow it down. How the hell was he supposed to work with these people? He’s nothing like them. 

The fight that he and Jimin had made Jeongguk go to bed a little earlier than he would’ve liked to. He needed his wet dreams about Lee Jieun. Only they would make up for the shitty night he had. And lucky they did. Otherwise, he would’ve never had the determination to go back to that circus job. 

After reliving that horrible night in his head, he returned to planet Earth to give Lisa reassurance that he would never come home with Park Jimin ever again. “Yes ma’am.” He waved her goodbye as he left the hotel. 

“Good.” 

-- 

“Nice work, Jimin. You need some water?” Jimin’s best friend, Kim Taehyung, the clairvoyant vampire, asked him as Jimin came back from his performance of jumping through rings of fire in his wolf form. He nodded, to which Taehyung handed him a cold one from underneath his table.  

The thrill of the crowd could be heard from possibly miles away and that wasn’t just because of Taehyung’s supernatural ability to hear even the slightest sound was exaggerating it. Jimin’s performance was arguably the one that brought in the most money for Cirque de Bangtan. No one questioned the existence of a werewolf. They’ve read enough Twilight to accept that they do exist. The only person who doesn’t know because he—along with his also sheltered friends—was shielded from these kinds of creatures is Jeongguk. 

Taehyung’s shift already ended about thirty minutes ago when he predicted the futures of possibly ten people. That’s ten more people than the previous night, so there’s progress there. Were they right? Only the future (and Taehyung) knows for sure. Sometimes he told them what they wanted to hear. Other times he would tell the truth only if it was beneficial to them. And still, he found that he was paid more whenever he lied. Humans are so weird. Glad he was never one of them. 

Jimin looked at his phone. Seven o’clock. Newbie’s shift would be starting soon. Only one problem: he didn’t smell Jeongguk anywhere. Meaning that either he got cold feet and quit his job before he could even arrive. Or he got mobbed by rogue wolves. He prayed for the former since Namjoon would kill him otherwise for not making sure he was safe. It was Namjoon’s voice at the back of his head that stopped Jimin from busting Jeongguk’s door open and teaching that brat some respect last night. And it’s currently that same man’s voice telling him to go look for him. I fucking hate you, Kim Namjoon. Get out of my goddamn head already. 

“Worried about a certain someone?” Taehyung prodded. Of course, he knew the answer to this due to his clairvoyance. But it never hurt to ask. 

He growled in irritation, appalled that Taehyung would even suggest that he was worried about that stubborn brat. “No. I’m worried about myself being ripped to shreds by a certain someone because I didn’t do my job.” 

Crossing his arms, Taehyung felt like being a bit more a bother to his friend than usual. So, he kept poking at the wolf. “Really? Seems to me like you are.” 

“Now isn’t the time for jokes, Tae. You do know that—” 

“Ko Ko Bop is in town? Or to be more specific will be in town? They aren’t here now, but they will be in due time. I’m thinking in about two weeks. Care to bet with me?” 

It’s always a game with someone like Taehyung. He knows the outcomes, so why even bother with being serious. He told Seokjin and Namjoon yesterday about the predictions, but he left out the future tense of will be, which prompted Namjoon to recruit Jeongguk quicker than he would’ve liked. Namjoon would’ve liked for Jeongguk to find out about Cirque de Bangtan the natural way of just stumbling upon it or a friend bringing him here and him liking it so much that he would end up working for them. Not end up hearing about it via a flyer. But no matter because Jeongguk had accepted. Now it was a matter of time until they would become the number one circus in the whole world as they so rightfully deserve. 

Jimin huffed at the mischievous vampire, giving into his gambling. He doesn’t know why he indulges in this behavior. But he does know that no other member could handle it. Hence why he and Taehyung make a great duo.  “I’d say a week.” 

“Good. And what does the winner get?” 

“A get-out-of-jail-free card.” 

Taehyung rolled his eyes in boredom. “Come on, man. You can’t be serious.” 

Jimin crossed his arms, a smile playing across his face. “Oh, but I am. You never know when you need someone to bail you out. What if you accidentally kill someone from drinking too much from them? Then what? Who else is gonna put up with you? Because let me tell you, that’s a full-time job, mister.” 

Taehyung gasped in shock and put a hand to his heart to display—dramatically—how hurt he was that Jimin would say that. “How dare you! I have not overdrunk in years! I know how to control myself, unlike some people...” 

Jimin scoffed. “And what are you implying?” 

“Oh, don’t think I forgot about how hungry you were that you got rid of the last recruit before he made it to the door,” Taehyung sassed. “Let’s hope this recruit will be able to perform before you sink your teeth into him, hmm?” 

And at the mention of the recruit, Jimin finally caught his scent. It was hard to miss. Did he put on cologne? His scent was usually softer than what he was smelled of. Whatever. He was here now, meaning he hadn’t gotten mauled by wolves and Jimin can live another night. 

Noticing that Jimin didn’t hit him with another snarky remark, he knew that he had other things on his mind, making the vampire smirk. He put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, prompting him to leave his tent. “Go get ‘em, tiger.” 

Before Jimin could respond to him, he was pushed out of Taehyung’s tent and right into Jeongguk’s built chest. Fuck, was he that much taller than him? That’s a thought he had put to the side for now. While Jeongguk was apologizing profusely, Jimin couldn’t care less. Right now, he had to show Jeongguk to the performance tent where he would be putting on his first show. 

“Took you long enough, brat. Let’s get you ready. Follow me.” 

-- 

Jeongguk was led to a tent near the bigger one in the center by Jimin. It took him a few more minutes than expected to get to the circus. To be fair, if he didn’t see the big crowd that was leaving the circus, he would’ve lost his way there and miss his first performance and probably lose his job. He could’ve used his phone. If it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t charge it while he was sleeping last night. Too freaked out by Jimin, he needed an ample amount of YouTube and Pornhub to get his mind off him and drift peacefully to sleep. But now here he was, right next to where his nightmares began. 

Jimin pushed Jeongguk inside the tent. “You have ten minutes to put on something in there. Don’t worry; we washed everything before you came today. When you’re done, come on out.” 

“Yessir,” Jeongguk exclaimed to Jimin. He looked around the tent and the many drawers and closets within. His eyes fell to the darker wooden closet. He opened it and found the outfit of the night. A black glittering tuxedo with dark purple stripes and a white dress shirt with black buttons. Oh yeah, this was an outfit for the one and only Jeon Jeongguk to rock. He even found shoes that fit him surprisingly well since he never told them his shoe size. Maybe they had another member that coincidentally had the same shoe size as him. That would have to be his best bet for now because Jimin was an impatient man. 

His back turned to the wall of the tent while humming to himself, he didn’t hear Jimin opening the flap to give Jeongguk a five-minute warning. Jimin caught the sight of Jeongguk’s bare toned golden back. He works out? Because goddamn does it show. It was only a glimpse but Jimin so desperately wishes he had the power to reverse time to see it again and again. Or perhaps the power to stop time altogether and snap a picture for his pleasure. 

Wait a sec. 

His pleasure? 

No way. 

There’s no way he’s falling for this brat. He would kill himself twice if that was the case. He ducked out before Jeongguk turned back around. Maybe his wolf is acting up because his heat is coming soon. He hated it so much because he would have to take the whole week off so that he wouldn’t kill the customers. He didn’t like leaving the circus since his performance draws in the most attention and therefore the most money. But alas, he can’t control his wolf during times like those, so he was helpless to change that fact. It’s moments like these that make him regret becoming this hairy creature. 

Meanwhile, Jeongguk put on the finishing piece of a sparkling purple bow tie and matching top hat. He looked like a circus freak. Like one of those ringleaders, he thought. Oh well, couldn’t get any more embarrassing from here on out. 

He went outside to greet Jimin, unaware of the peeping Tom and what he witnessed in the dressing tent. Jimin continued as if he didn’t see what he saw and felt whatever it was he did. Leading the boy to the back entrance of the main tent. The audience was chatting rather loudly, waiting for their next form of entertainment to grace their presence. In that domineering voice that made Jeongguk shrink into his shoes, he leaned forward to Jeongguk’s ear. “Don’t mess this up, little one.” 

Somehow, Jeongguk was able to respond to Jimin despite the tone of voice Jimin spoke to him with that would usually render him speechless. In fact, with that same cockiness that he was born and raised with. “Wasn’t planning on it.” 

Jeongguk stepped into the tent, silencing the crowd. Immediately, the speakers blared with a voice that resembled that of that Kim Seokjin fellow he remembered meeting yesterday. “Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome our newest member of Cirque de Bangtan, The Top Hat Singer!” 

The Top Hat Singer? Why that name of all names for him? Whatever. He’ll have to change his stage name eventually. For now, he needed to provide to the audience the “Singer” part of his newfound name. And boy, did he intend to. 

The lights went out for a split second, only to return with all lights on Jeongguk. He gulped, realizing that singing in acapella would have to do for his first performance. He could’ve gotten away with just singing “FOOLS” again. But he wanted to prove that he was versatile enough to sing other songs. So, he went with “2U”. Based on how Seokjin was the announcer, he would surely be listening to his song. Maybe that could change his opinion on having a singer as a performer in a circus. If he was able to woo the crowd that was. 

But judging by how they were swaying along with his voice, he had a feeling that he was doing a better job than both he and Seokjin thought he would. It was Jimin however, who knew that the brat had a pair of good lungs on him and never doubted him for a second, hence why he lingered to listen to his voice for a few more minutes before he left. After all, he’s been watching him since the beginning. Although he still wishes that it was him up there singing a duet with the boy, he pushes those feelings aside, choosing instead to go back to his tent. His work for the day was done. Including his overtime with Jeongguk. 

When Jeongguk’s performance ended, the crowd was in an uproar, demanding an encore, despite Jeongguk singing nonstop song after song. He felted empowered. Like he could get used to this attention. He took his bow and picked up the flowers and money the audience threw his way. The speakers went off again with Kim Namjoon as the speaker this time. “As much as The Top Hat Singer would love to sing for you all for the rest of the night, the circus is closing soon. He will be back tomorrow and on behalf of Cirque de Bangtan, we hope you also return. Have a wonderful night, ladies and gentlemen.” 

It was almost sad to hear the audience sighs of disappointment, but the sound of them cheering for Jeongguk to continue drowned out all those negative feelings. This is the attention he needed. Not because of his family’s wealth or their talents. But because of his talents. Now that he had experienced it, there was no way he was letting this job go. 

“He’s hooked,” Seokjin pointed out to Namjoon. 

Namjoon looked at that light in Jeongguk’s eyes. He truly enjoyed his first performance. He inclined his head. “So, should we tell him?” 

Seokjin shrugged. “You’re the leader, Namjoon. It’s your call.” 

“Hmm...” Namjoon hummed to himself, trying to debate whether or not to drop the bomb on Jeongguk. Then he makes up his mind. “We tell him tomorrow night.” 

Seokjin exhaled like he was exhausted already. “Oh boy. I’ll need a bottle of soju. I can tell that he won’t take it well. With him being a Jeon and all.” 

They both laughed at each other, but quickly silencing themselves and leaving the tent when Jeongguk turned around to try and figure out where that laughter came from. He couldn’t find them, so he picked up his money and flowers and headed off to the dressing tent to change back his clothes. 

In the dressing tent, he was met by the card dealer of the group, Jeong Hoseok. Wearing a red shimmering suit with a black dress shirt and matching red shoes. He even had on shades despite it being pitch black out here. He looked Jeongguk up and down and cocked his head to the side. “Are you new here or something because I’ve never seen a face like yourself.” 

Jeongguk nodded. “Just did my first singing performance not too long ago.” 

“Ah, so that was your performance,” Hoseok said, taking off his shades. “Thought it was Jimin doing overtime. Only he could get the crowd that riled up. Glad to know that he has an equal. Maybe even his superior.” He winked at that last part which made Jeongguk’s cheeks flush a shade of red he never thought he could until now. 

Hoseok held a hand out for Jeongguk to shake. “Name’s Jeong Hoseok. I’m the card dealer and the opening performer for the circus.” 

Jeongguk shook his head, introducing himself as well. “Jeon Jeongguk... You might know my family based on my surname but I’m nothing like—” 

“Who?” 

Jeongguk’s train of thought stopped. He thought he would have to deal with another Jimin incident where he already knew about his family and used that as fuel to get Jeongguk fired up. Luckily, this was more of a Lisa situation where he knew nothing about the Jeons. He would take the latter over the former any day. So, instead of getting into his whole family history, he simply said, “Nevermind.” 

The tent was silent. Awkwardly silent. Jeongguk wanted to change his clothes in peace. It’s bad enough he barely knew these people. But it’s even worse for them to see parts of him that he rather stay hidden from their prying eyes. As if sensing Jeongguk’s awkwardness, Hoseok put his shades on the back of his head. “Alright, I’m gonna head out. Stay safe out there, kid. See you tomorrow.” 

“Yeah, you too,” Jeongguk said as Hoseok walked out. Finally, Jeongguk could undress without any unwanted attention on him. 

He dressed in his attire from earlier in the night when he first arrived and headed back to his hotel room. What a night tonight was. 

[andystanberg]

bags under my eyes and coffee in my hands

Word Count: 3 000

Genre: fluff, coffee shop au (yeah, yeah, cliche, I know), alternate universe

Warnings: swearing, insomnia

Summary/Prompt:

Phil works at a 24/7 Starbucks and Dan just can’t get any sleep.

A/N Fic idea from my friend @danielleworld. (The coffee shop au only one person asked for hah.)

Dan grips his coffee tight and stares blankly at the white wall in front of him. He doesn’t seem to notice (or perhaps he just doesn’t care) that it’s 3am and the cup is turning his hands bright red. In fact, it seems like he isn’t aware of anything around him at all.

Dan Howell is a nobody with a fuck-it-all attitude and an inability to sleep. The only things about him worth noting are the heavy bags under his eyes and his constant appearances at the one Starbucks that’s near him and is open all night (morning). On first glance, most people saw nothing more than another moody teenager. Dan thinks those people are probably right.

“Sir, are you okay?” A kind voice asks. Dan jumps slightly in his chair and spins around.

He squints up at the employee. The stranger is tall and directly in front of the artificial lights, making it hard to focus on any other details. The brightness of it all makes Dan’s head throb more than his ‘not sleeping in the early morning’ already did. If anything, this guy coming over to ask him if he’s okay makes Dan feel a billion times worse. Dan wants to tell this stranger to fuck right off, or that he’s as fine as being here, of all places, makes him. He wants to say “no, I’m extremely shitty, thanks for asking”, or at the very least insult the guy.

He grunts noncommittally in reply.

“I’m Phil, by the way,” Phil smiles. This Phil guy is far too cheery for Dan’s tastes, he decides.

“I see.” Dan stares pointedly at the nametag on Phil’s apron.

Phil looks down and coughs awkwardly, smile dropping slightly. Good. Dan hopes he’ll go away now. Phil doesn’t.

Instead, Phil plonks himself down on the empty seat across from him, causing Dan to scowl. The reason he always sits in the corner booth is so nobody interacts with him – not that any sane person would come into Starbucks at this hour for the sole purpose of finding someone to talk to. At least, he doesn’t think people did that. It’d be sad if people did that, he concedes.

It’s only then that Dan sees him fully. Something about Phil’s blue eyes, vampire-pale skin and shockingly jet-black hair seems familiar to him. Dan can’t quite place his finger on it.

“You seem interesting and I have no customers at this time of night – or morning, I guess, I’m never sure how to class it-“ Dan raises an eyebrow. Phil stops rambling. “Uh, what I meant was, do you mind if we chat for a while? I’m bored out of my mind and my legs were starting to hurt from standing up behind that counter for so long.”

Dan sighs. “First of all, I assure you, I’m not interesting. Second of all, do whatever you want with your life. If that means talking to a stranger that could potentially be a murderer at 3am, go ahead.” Seriously, any sane person would’ve walked away by now. Not Phil, apparently.

In fact, Phil doesn’t look even slightly disturbed, he just laughs. Dan eyes him warily. Maybe he should be the one that leaves before he gets murdered by this Starbucks employee with questionable sanity. And yes, Dan is most certainly thinking about that and not at all about how cute Phil is when he laughs. He isn’t thinking about the way Phil’s tongue pokes out and his eyes screw up and that nothing about it was fake. Everything about Phil seems genuine. (Except for the hair, Dan notes silently. That shade of midnight black can’t be natural.)

As a person who lies to himself and others daily, it was kind of unnerving. Maybe if Dan ignores him, he’ll go away. Phil doesn’t.

“No offence, but you don’t exactly look like a person who has enough, uh, strength to murder someone,” Phil comments, still grinning stupidly. Dan feels like he should take offence, but that smile throws him off.

Despite himself, Dan smiles back. “Hey, I’ll have you know I could totally murder you! It doesn’t take strength to do it, I could just,” he looks around for inspiration, “throw that cactus into your face a few hundred times.”

Phil follows his gaze. “Oh, you mean Susan?”

“What? Who?” Dan’s eyebrows furrow and he looks around. No one else is here.            

“The cactus! Its name is Susan. I was the one who brought it in, actually. All the other employees just kind of went along with it. You may have noticed, but this place is weird compared to standard Starbucks.”

“Well, this place hired you.” When Phil says nothing in reply, Dan wonders if he went too far. Of course he went too far, he just met the guy! Phil probably thinks he’s weird now. Dan cringes, and stares at the tiled floor, wishing for it to open up into a dark abyss. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything.”

Phil shakes his head and chuckles. “I know I’m weird, don’t worry. I can’t believe you picked up on it so quickly, though! For most people, it takes at least an hour of talking before they mention it.”

Dan relaxes. “An hour? Does that mean I hold the record of how-quickly-a-person-can-find-out-that-Phil’s-weird? Wow, the dream is alive.” Dan pretends to swoon.

“And you said you weren’t interesting!” Phil exclaims.

It’s then that Dan realises he hadn’t been following his not-talking plan and stiffens. “Yeah, well…” He shrugs. He picks up his coffee absentmindedly and tries to take a sip only to realise that there’s nothing left. Dan wonders briefly when he finished it and awkwardly sets it back down. He then frowns at it, as if it were its own fault for being empty.

“I could get you another cup, if you want,” Phil suggests. Right, he was still there. “On the house!”

“You don’t have to,” Dan mumbles. “I don’t need it.” He very much needs it. Dan’s head is constantly plagued by migraines that keep him up, thus causing more of them from lack of sleep. Coffee helps sometimes, but really it was more of a habit than anything. The caffeine made him forget about his burning eyes that refused to close and his throbbing head that wanted to shut down, but didn’t exactly help the sleep thing, which made everything worse.

He wishes he could telepathically tell Phil all this, but without, you know, all the details. Maybe just give him a mental kick to make him get Dan coffee without Phil knowing that Dan caused the mental kick, whatever that meant. Great, he’s so tired that now even his own thoughts are making no sense.

“You look like you need it, so I’m going to get some anyway.” Phil leaves Dan to ponder over whether or not he actually does have psychic powers. If he does, maybe he could refine them enough to control his own goddamn insomnia enough to let him sleep.

Phil comes back and the first thing Dan notices is that he isn’t holding any coffee. “I forgot to ask, what do you want?”

Dan groans and lets his head drop onto the table. It is surprisingly cool. “Phil, you’re the worst employee ever.” He pauses. “Also a caramel macchiato, please.”

“I’ll have you know I’m a great employee,” Phil protests. Suddenly he switches to a more business-like tone. “And what name will I take that under, oh costumer from the heavens?”

“Shut up and get me my coffee,” Dan growls.

“Okay, Mr. Shut Up and Get Me My Coffee.” Phil leaves again, just before Dan could chuck something at him. The brunette places his empty coffee cup back onto the table.

A few minutes later, Phil calls out, “Caramel macchiato, for Shut Up and Get Me My Coffee!”

Dan waits for him to walk over. When he doesn’t, Dan lifts his head and looks around for Phil. He’s standing behind the counter holding Dan’s coffee and it doesn’t look like he’s going to move anytime soon. “Phil,” Dan whines, “please don’t make me walk over there.”

“I can’t,” Phil claims, with a hint of a smile. “In this fine establishment,” Dan scoffs, but Phil continues, even louder as if to prove a point, “customers have to actually get up to receive their drinks. Since I’m such a model employee, I must follow procedure.”

“Ha-ha, very funny,” Dan deadpans. “Who knew you knew such big words? Now drop the act and get over here.”

“I didn’t know you missed me that much.” Phil starts walking anyway.

“Says you. You’re the one actually putting the effort into coming over.” As soon as Dan says this, Phil stops where he is and sits down. He’s still too far away for Dan to snatch his coffee. Or kick him. He hasn’t decided yet. “You little shit,” he sighs half-heartedly and makes a grabby motion with his hands.

When Phil doesn’t move again, Dan sighs more dramatically this time and makes a show of heaving himself upwards and trudging towards Phil’s smug, stupid face.

“Wow, slow down there or you might look a little desperate,” Phil jokes. Dan shoves him lightly once he’s in range.

“May I please have my coffee now?” Dan rolls his eyes as he says this, but throws in a pout for good measure.

“Anything for a cute boy,” Phil winks, before standing up handing Dan his coffee. Dan shoves him again, harder this time (after he has safely retrieved his coffee, of course; Dan’s not an idiot). They walk back over to their (when did it become theirs, he wonders) table.

Dan takes a sip and smiles into his cup. “Thanks,” he murmurs. Despite the caffeine, he feels more relaxed than he has in ages. Dan has to fight to keep his eyes from drooping. As he did that, Phil tilts his head and gazes curiously at this boy.

“You never did answer my question,” he pipes up finally.

Dan looks up and frowns. “Which one?”

Phil considers this for a moment. “All of them,” he decides. “Firstly, what is your name?”

Dan blinks in surprise. He hasn’t told him? He goes over their conversation in his head and realises that no, he never did. “Dan. My name is Dan.” When Phil doesn’t say anything, Dan figures that’s his cue to continue. He rubs the back of his neck and averts his eyes while he does. “You’ve probably guessed, but my full name is Daniel. I prefer Dan, though. It just sounds much less like I’m getting in trouble for something.”

“Okay, Danny,” Phil sings out. Dan whacks him and Phil laughs. “Secondly-“ he pauses. Phil’s eyes rake over Dan’s small frame that makes him look like you could knock him over with a feather and decides not to ask that question again.

Dan, however, is curious. The kind of curious that follows someone asking if they can ask you something. Meaning, extremely nerve-wracking. He figures that probably isn’t actually curiosity so much as a want to torture himself by agonising over what they were going to say. “Secondly?” He prompts quietly.

Phil shakes his head. “It’s not important.”

Something about his tone makes Dan drop it. “So, I see you like Pokémon,” he says out of the blue, trying to steer their talk back to topics they can, you know, talk about. He gestures to Phil’s colourful shirt, or, at least, the bits that aren’t covered by his apron.

The subject change immediately causes Phil to brighten.

After that, the conversation flows. Phil cracks a few lame jokes that Dan laughs along to and he, in turn, starts to open up more. They discover their mutual love of anime and video games (and not exercising) and have deep conversations about, well, Pokémon. That isn’t all, though. They also talk about Studio Ghibli!

Their discussion is only broken when Dan realises that the sun is coming up. He squints at it unhappily, much like he had at Phil hours ago. “Huh,” Dan says aloud. Phil turns to see what he’s looking at.

“Oh, wow, I didn’t realise how long we had been here!”

“Sorry for taking up your time,” Dan apologises, frowning. He has never stayed out this long before. “I should get going.”

“Me, too,” Phil replies, downhearted. Neither of them moves. A few minutes later, Phil, still gazing out the window, whispers, “Don’t look now but there’s another employee who’s been here for the past hour and they’re giving us a weird look.”

Dan whirls around straight away and sees that Phil’s right. The employee in question spots his accusing gaze and immediately pretends that they hadn’t been staring. “That’s right, loser, don’t look at me,” Dan mutters, turning back towards Phil.

Phil grins. “Well, I guess I really should get going before I get fired for… working… late? That doesn’t sound right but since I know basically nothing about this job, better safe than sorry.”

Dan sees the obvious opportunity to tease Phil about being a terrible employee but doesn’t take it. “And I should go home and pretend that I’ve been asleep since whatever time my parents expect me to be asleep by.” Once again, neither moves. Dan drums his fingers on the table, his leg bouncing up and down in time with it. “I… I’ll see you around? I guess, I mean, I hope, uh, because you’ve been really nice to talk to a-a-and-“

Phil cuts off his stuttering with another one of his stupidly cute laughs. Dan stares at the way the tips of his mouth curves up and at the bit of tongue that somehow escapes Phil’s lips. He finds himself wondering, not for the first time, what it would be like to kiss him. “3am tomorrow?” Phil suggests, snapping Dan back to reality.

“What?” Dan asks, screwing his face up.

“No offence, Dan, but you have the worst memory ever,” Phil observes, and Dan can’t see what that has to do with whether or not he’d see Phil again. “I mean, it’s understandable since you’re basically a zombie most days,” Dan figures he should be seriously offended by this, “so I can see why you don’t remember that I’ve served you at the same time every day for the past month.”

Dan’s jaw drops open. His cheeks burn and it’s only then that he suddenly gets why Phil seemed so familiar. Before he can say anything, probably another apology, Phil gets up and goes behind the counter. Dan notes in the back of his mind that that other employee is still there, most likely wondering how they could politely kick him and Phil out.

Phil returns holding a napkin. He sets it out on the table and proceeds to fish around in his pockets until he finally pulls out a black biro.

“What are you doing?” Dan asks. His eyes followed Phil’s careful strokes, so unlike Dan’s own messy handwriting, and watches as they form a series of numbers.

“So you can call me,” Phil explains, as he adds the finishing touches. He slides the napkin over to Dan, who is quick to pull out his phone and open up contacts.

“Why do you have a pen in your pocket?” He mutters as he types Phil’s name.

“I always have a pen on me! It gets really boring on my shifts, so I usually just doodle on random things.” Phil proves this by pointing out the drawn lion next to his number.

Dan raises his eyebrows and tries to hide the fond smile that threatens to take over, but Phil pulls his hand away from his face.

“Don’t hide it, your smile is adorable!” He insists. Dan considers scoffing but honestly, he’s too tired to pretend like that doesn’t mean a lot to him.

“Thanks,” he mumbles, trying to make it sound sarcastic. Phil sees right through it though. Dan wants to hide his burning face again for some form of defence, but Phil’s still clutching his hand.

As soon as he realises this, Phil shifts his grip so that their fingers are interlocked. “You really are cute, you know,” he whispers softly. Dan doesn’t say anything – he’d be a stuttering mess if he did.

All too soon, Phil lets go. “If I stay any longer, that guy might call the police on me. See you soon, Dan!” He stands up and walks behind the counter for the last time that night (day?) and then disappears through a door in the back, throwing Dan one last, brilliant smile.

Dan sighs as he watches Phil go. After a few minutes of staring at the door that had taken Phil, Dan finally gathers up enough energy to stand up, wobbling slightly as the blood rushed to his head. He walks out of the Starbucks, but not before he glances back one more time, hoping to see Phil. When he doesn’t, he briefly entertains the absurd thought of all of that being a weird dream, but all it takes is for him to pull out his phone and see Phil’s very real contact to dismiss that entirely.

On his way home, he smiles to himself. Tonight has certainly been interesting. He hopes desperately Phil sticks around. On a whim, he sends Phil a text.

MR. SHUT UP AND GET ME MY COFFEE we should hang out sometime. you know, not in the middle of the night. how about later today at 4-ish?

He tries to not check his phone obsessively every two seconds. Luckily, he doesn’t have to, because soon enough, Phil texts back.

WEIRD STARBUCKS EMPLOYEE NAMED PHIL 4am?! Unless you have a time travel machine, I’m afraid we can’t. (Just kidding!) It’s a date :P

Dan slips his phone back into his pocket and almost skips home. Even though it’s 5am and the sun is rising, when he finally flops onto his bed after setting an alarm on his phone, he falls right to sleep, a huge smile spread across his face.

A/N This may get a sequel, depending if people like it.