Chapter Text
It’s two in the morning and Dan is awake. He stares up at the ceiling of his dark room and sighs. He has been trying to go to sleep for ages, but his head is buzzing and prevents him from falling into a sweet, sweet slumber. A car passes by and a streak of light shines onto the wall for a moment before it dissappears again. He groans out loud, getting more frustrated by the second.
He has to go to work tomorrow, early in the morning. Going into work while sleepdeprived isn’t for the weak. He shivers, remembering pulling an all-nighter a while ago and being so tired the next day he ended up accidentally dumping a frappucino on his shoes. The cold mushiness of his Converse is a horror he won’t forget any time soon.
After another hour of tossing and turning he finally falls asleep. When his alarm starts blaring a mere 2,5 hours later he wakes up confused and absolutely drained. Dan pulls himself out of bed and undresses, standing in the shower just staring at the bathroom tiles.
After forcing himself to turn off the warm shower he tries getting dressed. He shuffles to his closet and opens the door. His uniform isn’t there. He digs through the piles of haphazardly folded clothes, messing his closet up even more. But still no sign of his uniform. The overwhelming frustration of last night returns.
Dan closes his eyes and counts to ten. He takes a deep breath and puts on a burgundy shirt, a color similar enough to the color of his apron to look kind of intentional. He slips on his stained Converse and leaves the house. He just has to get through today, he has the whole weekend off.
It’s six hours into his shift. Only two to go. So far he has managed to mess up three orders and piss off multiple hurried customers. The middle aged woman in front of him rolls her eyes when he calls her name and hands her her drink. He must have mispronounced her name.
“I come here every week. I would assume you learned to pronounce it right by now.” She says.
Dan apologises and starts thinking about his happy place. A place for him and him alone. Not a coffee machine or milk steamer in sight. He’s interrupted by a deep voice.
“Hello! Can I have a caramel macchiato, please?”
He blinks a few times, returning to reality. The guy in front of him has big blue eyes and clearly bleached blond hair. He smiles at him, revealing his slightly crooked teeth. He’s gorgeous.
His smile fades a little at Dan’s lack of response.
“Yeah! Yeah! Of course!” Dan says a bit too loudly. The smile makes its way back to the guys face, though. Mission accomplished. “What’s your name?”
“Phil.”
Dan smiles at him. “Well, Phil. One caramel macchiato coming right up.” He mentally curses at himself for the slight flirtation. He looks at Phil, trying to see how he reacts to it. The smile hasn’t wavered and a slight pink dusting is now covering his high cheekbones.
His co-worker, Lola, starts making the drink and Phil moves aside to let the next customer order. He looks awkward, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans at a weird angle and shuffling his feet. Dan is hopelessly endeared.
“Phil!” Lola calls, putting the finished drink onto the counter. Dan can not let him leave. He signals to the next customer.
“Just a second. I’m sorry.”
He moves to the register where Phil is about to pay.
“This one is on the house, actually.” He says.
Phil blinks at him. “Oh! You don’t have to-”
“Just take it.” Dan says.
Lola smirks. He glares at her and she chuckles, holding both her hands up in mock surrender. She makes her way to where a long line is starting to form and takes the next order, granting Dan the time to do whatever this is. Dan loves her.
“Well. Thank you.” Phil says. His deep voice sounds like music. Dan wants to drown in it. He really needs to sleep, he thinks.
“What’s your name?”
“Dan.”
“Thank you, Dan.”
Phil looks at him for another moment before taking a pen from his bookbag and grabbing a napkin. He jots something down and hands the napkin to Dan.
“For if you ever need me to repay you.” He says, holding his gaze intensely. Dan feels his cheeks heating up. Their fingers brush and he swears he feels a spark.
Dan picks up the cup and hands it to Phil. He gasps as the cup slips from his grasp before Phil can take hold of it and Dan watches as it falls to the counter in slowmotion. The lid pops off and the drink goes everywhere. Phil yelps at the liquid splashing onto his sweater. Dan wants to curl into a ball and move to the North Pole out of shame.
“Oh my god. I’m so sorry. Let me clean it up.” Dan says. He rushes around the counter and grabs a big wad of napkins, dabbing furiously at Phil’s chest. Phil huffs out a small bit of air. The sound makes Dan slow his frantic movements and he looks up from where he’s still pressing the paper towels to Phil’s chest.
The blue eyes in front of him are sparkling. They start to crinkle as the corners of Phil’s mouth lift into a wide smile before he barks out a short laugh. His hand comes up to cover his mouth. Dan wishes it wouldn’t have. He looks down at Phil’s sweater. It looks absolutely ruined.
“Let me pay for the dry cleaning.” Dan says.
Phil scoffs. “No. This is an old sweater anyway. It’s okay.”
Dan groans. “I’m so embarrassed. I’m sorry. I’ll go make you a new drink, at least.”
He makes it in what has to be a record time and carefully places it down on the counter. He thinks for a second before placing a slice of banana bread next to it.
“This probably goes without saying, but these are on the house. Again.” His ears are burning with mortification.
Phil giggles and grabs his drink and the banana bread.
“See you around, Dan.”
He leaves the shop, waving at Dan once more through the window. Dan just stares.
Then he remembers the napkin. He looks down at it. It has a phone number written on it. Dan frowns. A few splashes of coffee have hit the paper and the ink of a few of the numbers has bled, making them very hard to decipher.
“Dan! Kinda need you to do your job now, mate.” Lola calls. He snaps out of it and looks at her. She gestures at the long line of people waiting for their coffee and shoves the paper into his back pocket.
“Sorry!” He calls.
“No worries. You just owe me.” She winks.