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angel-ixily · 2 months ago

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Closing Hours

Pairing: Brad x gn!Reader

Fandom: Bistro Huddy

Warnings: Fluff, Cursing, Nostalgia

A/N: It’s been a while since I’ve written anything, and I decided that my first story back would be Bistro Huddy! Don’t be worried if Bistro Huddy becomes one of my main favorite fandoms to write in! I’m obsessed with it!

Summary: You’re stuck on closing shift and to your surprise, Brad is too! But things start to change when it gets a little nostalgic between the two of you!

Enjoy!

If you’ve ever worked in a restaurant and had to do a closing shift, I understand your pain. You’re all tired and exhausted, you’ve dealt with shitty people all day, and you want to go home but you can’t. You’re trapped in your low-paying hellhole.

Everyone was gone, and I had already assumed that I was the only person left at the Bistro besides Harold, who had already taken his place on the booth that he slept in. His snoring could be heard across the restaurant.

I had just finished leftover side work and had placed the silverware inside of the bins when I had turned around and saw a person standing right in front of me.

And I did what any normal person would do. I screamed until I realized it was Brad, who was laughing, so I him him in the chest.

“Bradley!” I hit him again. “Don’t do that! You scared the shit out of me!” I scolded him. He was calming down from his laughter. “What are you doing here anyways?” I asked, glaring daggers at him.

“I’m closing with you tonight. It was supposed to be Aaron, but he’s afraid of the kitchen at night. Says it gives him a bad feeling, but I think he’s just scared of the dark. He gave me $15 to trade.” Brad explained. My heart rate was finally calming down. I looked up to the ceiling and closed my eyes, letting out a big breath.

“I wish he would have told me that. I thought it was just me. That way I wouldn’t have been scared when you just appeared behind me, you creep.” Brad chuckled. I looked back down to him.

“You still would have been scared, be honest. You didn’t know I was behind you in the first place.” He said amusingly. He had that smug Brad smirk on his face.

“Well at least I would have known you were here and not have thought some weird man was standing behind me!” I turned back around to grab the bin of rolled silverware to put on the tables.

“Oh come on! For all you knew, it could have been Harold if it wasn’t me.” He followed me out of the back and into the front.

“Be for real. Harold is the loudest man in this place besides Joey. I would have heard him coming a mile away.” I laughed as I began setting down the silverware on the place mats. Brad took a handful or so out of the bin and began to do the same.

“Actually Harold is pretty quiet. You can never hear when that guys coming. You only hear him when he wants to be heard.” Brad looked over to Harold, who was fast asleep in his booth.

“Poor guy. I feel so bad for him. I can’t believe his wife kicked him out because he wouldn’t redo the bathroom for her.” I commented, shaking my head. Brad scoffed.

“That’s the reason? She does know he’s a dishwasher right? He doesn’t make much to begin with.” He replied, taking the last of the silverware. I put the bin down.

“He’s been here for over 20 years and he only makes minimum wage. But he doesn’t have to pay for much of anything since he’s been crashing here. And without having to pay rent anymore, he probably has a hell of a lot more money now. He told me that he finally had enough to buy his son a graduation gown.” I told Brad as he silently leaned over the table Harold was sleeping at to place the silverware. Harold grunted in his sleep and turned over. Brad walked back over to me.

“Well I’m glad he’s still talking to his son. That boy means the world to him.” Brad leaned on a table across from me, looking at the the sleeping beauty named Harold. I stared at Brad and laughed. He looked from Harold to me.

“Remember when we first started out? And there was that waitress named Bethel? And her son Bert III started working here as a busser?” I asked him. An amused sound passed his lips.

“Oh yeah! And you always called him Berty the Thirdy because he hated when I’d call him Bert without the III.” Brad began to smile. I nodded.

“I’m pretty sure the reason he quit was because of me. I was foul. Still am!” Brad and I both laughed at this. He shook his head.

“Bethel wasn’t so far after that. And then Terry replaced her with Scarlett, who’d always sneak off to the bathroom to do drugs.” He looked down to the floor. “I was 18 and she was like 42. She’d always try to flirt with me. You had to act like you were my partner so she’d back off. Thank god she quit a few weeks later.” Brad stopped leaning on the table. He looked at me.

“I can’t believe we’ve been here for this long.” I picked up the bin and walked to the back. “By now I thought I’d be somewhere else. Maybe a different state, doing something with my life. Maybe a family of some kind. But here I am.” I pushed the kitchen doors open. Brad followed me in there.

“I don’t think I’d ever have the balls to leave Los Angeles. Everyone I know is here, I was raised here. Bistro Huddy also pays us extremely well. I make more than I’d make at a 9 to 5 at this age.” He explained. I put the bin next to the dishwasher for Harold. It wasn’t dirty, but Terry had a new policy that everything we touched had to be washed.

“What did you want to be when you were a kid?” I asked him.

Brad was silent for a moment. “A lot of things. I wanted to be a Firefighter, and then a Pilot. I was a teen model, so I wanted to do that for awhile. I decided on acting, that didn’t work well. And I guess my life led me down the path of a server.” He explained. I nodded my head slowly.

“I feel like we’ve talked about this before. I just can’t remember when.” I turned around to turn off the kitchen lights. Brad and I now stood in a dimly lit room.

“I don’t know. We’ve probably talked a little about everything for as long as we’ve known each other. Besides, I just noticed it’s our first time closing together in years.” He was right. We hadn’t worked a close together for a while. We opened together all the time, but never closed.

“Yeah. But we’re pretty much done, so we can head out. We just have to make sure everything is locked.” I looked up to him. He just silently stared at me. “What are you doing?” I asked him. He stayed silent.

“Bradley. Why are you staring at me?” I pushed, my confusion growing. He smiled.

“I don’t know. It’s probably nostalgia hitting me or something, but we practically grew up together. We were babysat by the same sitter, lived in the same neighborhood, went to the same schools, eventually worked in the same restaurant together. Of course we do different things with our lives and like separate things… but we’ve known each other forever.” He had a soft smile on his face as he looked into the distance. I started to smile too.

“I remember being kids, and running around. We drove that babysitter crazy. Can’t remember her name now, but she had guts because we were hectic. Playing on the street with the other kids on the block, playing in the rain. We’d ride our bikes everywhere! In school we talked every so often, but we weren’t that close. The only time I really talked to you was when I was with your friend James.” I was going to continue but he paused me right there.

“He was an asshole, dude! Major asshole! and an idiot! He thought that since he was decent at Football that he was shit! I was so glad to graduate because I never wanted to see him again.” Brad rolled his eyes, re-crossing his arms due to him moving them around while he was talking. I giggled.

“He was…okay I guess. And besides, why were you friends with him if you didn’t like him?” I asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Because he was popular, and I was popular! We were in the same friend group, so it was kind of forced upon us. Besides… he did have some good ass parties.” I laughed at the ending. Brad joined me.

“He did! But he was so crazy to be with. He’d always flex his muscles and the only thing he’d talk to me about was football and working out. All day! I don’t know how he always had something to say about it. But he somehow found out!” I smiled, looking down. Brad was still chuckling. I spoke after a second. “I thought you hated me throughout high-school. Even when you got here at first and I had to train you.” I put my head back up to look at him. His face fell into confusion.

“Hated you? No! Hell no? I never hated you! Where’d you get that from?” He asked me.

“I don’t know. I would always try to talk to you and have a conversation, and you’d just ignore me or reply with a short answer. I thought it was because I was dating your bestie, but I guess not. Or maybe because the girl you were with hated my guts. Not sure.” Brad looked sad for a second before he looked really confused.

“Girl? What girl? I wasn’t with a girl in high-school? I had talking phases, but I never had a girlfriend until I graduated.” He answered. I glanced to the right of me and then back at him.

“That girl? Junior year? She was blonde but dyed her hair red and told people that it was her natural color, even though she forgot to dye a whole blonde patch in the back? That girl?” I asked him. His eyes widened and he snapped his fingers, pointing at me.

“Oh yeah! Jess! Oh no! I wasn’t with her! She had a crush on James, and then you got with him, so she started talking to me with full intentions on trying to get him to cheat on you! And he totally would have if I hadn’t of stepped in.” Brad shook his head. “I never hated you. I don’t know where you got that, but no way. Sorry if I made it seem like that, but that’s impossible to do. Nervous? Sure. But never hatred.” Brad finished, looking directly in my eyes. I looked between both of his.

“Wait? That’s a lot to unpack. 1. James was going to cheat on me? 2. You stepped in for me? 3. Nervous?” I put my hands out in front of me. Brad scoffed and then smiled.

“Okay. Yes, if I hadn’t of told her to back off he totally would have. They were always talking and flirting, touching. And then she kept claiming she was with me, and I told her that not even her own father could stand her and that’s why he left. Mean! I know. But I couldn’t stand seeing you hurt. I didn’t want to look at you crying, or sad, and I didn’t want to not talk to you. If something happened to you and James… then I wouldn’t be able to even see you anymore.” I stared at Brad, my mouth slightly open. He stared back. There was a lot of staring going on between us. I felt something thick go into the air within our silence.

“You wanted to see me? Why? I thought I made you nervous?” I asked him. “And… you worked here with me, you wouldn’t have not seen me again.” I stopped leaning on the dishwasher and stood straight up.

“I started working here because you worked here.” Brad left it at that for a moment. My face twisted into shock. “I had the biggest crush on you throughout school. I remember telling James I wanted to ask you out and he ended up doing it instead, even though he knew I liked you. I still wanted to be around you but I never knew what to say because I wanted you to like me too. I would practice what to say before I’d see you, and fail miserably. James had mentioned something about breaking up with you, and I remembered asking where you worked, and immediately got a job here so I could see you.” He answered. My entire heart dropped and sped up. I didn’t know what to say.

“It’s creepy, I know. I’m sorry.” Brad looked down to the floor and I rocked back and forth for a second.

“You should have told me, you know. I really liked you too…” Brad looked up at this. “Oh come on! You were so cute! Those blue eyes and the sandy hair. You always smelled really good and had a great style. You were smart. My friends would always tease me about you until they found out that James was going to ask me out. In my mind he had probably talked about it with you, so you knew, and there was no way you liked me. So.. I said yes.” I laughed and shook my head. “Guess I ruined it, huh?” I finished. Brad shook his head and stopped leaning on the wall.

“Nah. From the moment I’ve met you you’ve never ruined anything besides the food from when Pickles called out sick and Terry needed another cook so he put you on the line.” Brad teased. I rolled my eyes jokingly. Brad stayed smiling.

“It wasn’t Aaron that called off. I asked him to. I paid him $15 so that I could be here with you. I couldn’t stand to waste another shot of talking to you, of being with you. I’ve never stopped wanting you.” He said out of nowhere. My eyes widened again but his eyes were softened, he wasn’t smiling, but his lips were pointed up. It was as if he was admiring me. For the first time I noticed that this was how he always looked at me.

“Brad…” I muttered. I hadn’t even known that I’d taken a slight step towards him. He stopped leaning on the wall, walked over to me, and began to kiss me. I immediately melted. One of his hands cupped my face, while the other touched the small of my back to bring me closer. Both of my hands went to his face.

His lips were slightly chapped, but for the most part soft. He was gentle. He was taking his time. His kiss wasn’t exactly light, but not too hard and rushed. He kept that middle where you’d still beg for more as if it had barely happened.

I was right. After he had pulled away I’d leaned in slightly for more. He was intoxicating. I opened my eyes to be looking up to his blue ones. He was rubbing his thumb against my cheek.

“I’d be lying if I said I stopped liking you.” He mumbled. I laughed, pulling my hands down from his cheeks to rest on his chest.

“Well I’d hope so after that.” I replied. He let out an amuse breath, holding me close.

“That took 7 years, but it was so worth it. You’re so worth it.” He pressed a quick kiss to my lips.

“I swear me made out at one point in time during a Christmas party, right?”

“Shhh we were blackout drunk that doesn’t count.”

I took a sigh of relief and I had the urge to kiss him again but I knew we needed to get out of here. Thank God we didn’t have to work tomorrow.

“Okay Bradley. We need to get out of here before Terry yells at us next time because we clocked out too late.” I pat his chest and hesitantly pulled away. I missed the warmth.

“Are you doing anything tonight? What about tomorrow?” He asked me as we walked to the front to clock out.

“Tonight I’m not doing anything. And tomorrow I have some errands to do, but I won’t be doing anything besides that.” I said as we got up to the register. Terry had already given us our tips earlier, so we didn’t need to worry about that.

“Well we could hang out. Maybe talk a little.” He told me as I began to clock out. I looked back to him before looking back at the screen.

“Talk about what?” I smirked.

“You know what. About us.” He poked my back as I moved out of the way so he could punch in his numbers.

“I’d like that a lot.” I told him. He looked down and me and smiled.

“Good. So are we gonna meet at my place or yours?” He turned the register off.

“Mine because your apartment complex is scary at night.” I claimed. He chuckled.

“Oh come on! The druggy doesn’t live in the alleyway anymore. It’s safe.” He turned to face me. I shook my head no. He smiled. “Okay. I’m going to go home, change, and then I’m going to bring some frozen pizza.” He described. I nodded in agreement.

“Okay. Sounds like a plan. Let’s get out of here so that can happen sooner.” I began to walk out of the hostess stand and he quickly grabbed my hips.

“Nuh uh.” He turned me around and we kissed again. The taste of his lips were so addicting. Or maybe that was just Brad.

The kiss somehow deepened and I stood up on my tippy toes to keep up with it.

“Will you two shut the fuck up? All I hear is your smoochin’ and it’s walkin’ me up! Go into the walk in or somethin’! Some of us gotta work tomorrow mornin’!” Harold yelled, which pulled Brad and I away. We laughed and he leaned his forehead on mine.

“Okay. Now we have to go.” He said, beginning to walk away. This time it was me following him. We made sure to lock the doors behind us, and Brad walked me to my car. Nicole started to park in the Pick-up parking spot so that I could park in the other manager parking spot. It pissed Terry off.

“Okay. I’ll see you in about 25-30 minutes.” Brad promised after he closed the door for me. I started my car.

“Yep! I’ll see you then!” He leaned his head into the window and gave me a quick kiss. He hit his head on the way out.

“Ow! Shit!” He yelped. I winced.

“That sounds like that hurt.” I began to cringe as he rubbed his head.

“Yeah. Have some ibuprofen waiting just in case.” He replied. I laughed and smiled at him.

“I’ll see you soon.” I stared into his blue eyes.

“I can’t wait.” Brad stared at me as if I was the most important person in the world.

Hopefully I could be the most important person in his.

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