Aster just stared at the man in the suit. He knew that face and definitely that paunch. Oh, god, he was taking an interview with the devil.
Better to start at, well, the start. E. Aster Bunnymund walked carefully. His steps were light as air. Each was carefully placed, like dancer's or a boxer's. He was both.
"Can I take your order?" And dirt poor.
The girl rattled off her order and his hand took down her words. Three cheeseburgers, fries, and a chocolate milkshake, he noted absent mindedly that no girl could eat that alone and look like a twig... Well, they could but then that girl would be... Yeah, he was listening way too much to Alen too much. The bloke read women like wine menus and went through then like they went through tissues. He really shouldn't listen to Alen.
He made his way up to the counter, where Leah waited to pass the order along. She smiled at him.
"Guess what I did?" Her green streaked red curls bounced and green eyes sparkled.
Aster smiled at his friend. He's Aussie; she's Irish. They somehow bonded over an Easter break stuck in Sydney in which he decided to move to America. Fat lot of luck that was. Then of course the Irish lass followed and here they were, disobeying her parents and trying find jobs in New York.
"What?"
She grinned. "I got the restaurant to set up a compost bin in the back. We have recycling, compost, and garbage now!" Aster patted her head. She was such a greenie.
"That's great. Now, pass this order along to Sully, why don't you?" he asked nodding to the chef in the back. The man didn't look up from his game console. Leah rolled her eyes and did so. Aster looked out over the restaurant. It was empty and on a Friday night, which just proved business wasn't good.
"Aster," Leah called. Her face puckered into a frown. "Did your mind go off on the Tardis?"
Aster, returning to earth, laughed. "Never without you! I know you like Tenant far too much, greenie."
Leah cracked a small smile. "Well, the boss wants to talk to you." Aster nodded, taking the order.
He deposited it on the girl's table with a quick, "Enjoy your chokkie," and rabbited off. Ms. Marcella didn't like to be kept waiting.
He nudged open the door to her office with a knock. "Ms. Marcella?"
A blonde woman of his age waved him in. Marcella Primavera was a short, and spirit like woman. She always dressed in pastels and bright colors that clung like blossoms to wisteria branches. Her eyebrows pulled forward into a frown and gnawed on her lower lip. She wasn't cut out for running a small business. She was more of a give the poor a voice type person. Aster knew she didn't want to take over her father's little diner, but there would Anthea's be without her? She gestured for him to sit in one of her floral arm chairs.
"What's hopping?" he asked, sounding nonchalant. Very rarely did she look so frustrated.
"Aster, you've worked here for three years now. I..." she halted. Aster wanted to brush the tears out of her eyes. They'd become friends, even dated for a little while before going back to friendship, and he didn't like seeing the people he cared about cry.
"Am I being fired?" She hid her face and shook her head.
"It's about Leah. I wanted to know if... You'd..." she choked on the last word. Everyone at the little diner was family. To be without one another just felt wrong. "We're barely making it as is. I don't think I can keep her on. You're more experienced and the regulars know you better. I don't have a choice."
"Marcy..." Aster put his hand over hers. She pulled her hand back, not looking him in the eye. "Marcy, fire me. I didn't tell you this, but I have an interview at the gym down the street, teaching a tai chi class. Leah's working on her Ph.D. She needs this more than I do."
Marcella nodded.
"E. Aster Bunnymund, despite your hard work and dedication, I am sorry to say you are fired. Please, return your uniform and vacate your locker as soon as possible. I will notify your coworkers. You have done well, may fortune guide you wherever you go and in whatever you do." Aster shook her hand.
"It's been great working with you Marcella."
"Likewise, Aster." He turned and left for the door.
"Hey," she called out. Aster turned around.
"You never told me. What is your first name?"
He smiled and she shook her head. "Go on then."
The slightly cooler air of the diner embraced him, as he stepped out a free man.
Leah looked up from the newspaper she was reading and asked, "What happened?"
He shrugged. "Diner's too slow. I got fired."
She blanked at him. "What?"
"No worries. Remember that ad we saw yesterday? How many people are going to apply for a tai chi class?" He walked to the back.
Sully looked up from his Mario Cart. "Hey, bro. Fired?"
Aster laughed. "Sorry, mate; looks like you're last man standing."
"I already was, flower boy. Going to leave us for some hot chicks?" The device blinked and flashed as Sully rounded bother bend.
"More like little kids and the elderly," Leah chided.
"I have to get the job first." Aster cracked open us locker. An extra t-shirt, a few photos, and a sketch book into his messenger bag.
He gave them a cocky grin. "I got my Irish Lass and Lucky Bamboo. Who knows? Someone at Marks and Mitchell might call be back first!"
Leah rolled her eyes in good nature, "Remember us little people."
"It'll be my shout," he said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah! Take that! Boom chicka bow wow!" Sully cheered as he crossed the finish line.
Aster stepped out of his shower. Two days until his interview at the gym. Mentally, he went over the names of all the stances. His answering machine buzzed.
"Hello, Mike Ross from Marks and Mitchell." Aster tripped over his paint splattered rug. "I'm calling on E. Aster Bunnymund on behalf of Harvey Specter?"
"Here!" He could hear Mike laughing on the other end.
"What's up, man? I thought you'd be at work." There was a clack of keys on the other end.
Aster sniffed. "This Aussie's got in interview on Thursday." He tightened the towel around his waist and padded off to the kitchen.
Mike mumbled something that had to do with can openers and muttered, "Great. Pencil one in for tomorrow at nine."
Aster almost poured the coffee on his hand. "What? Are you barmy?"
"No. Apparently, someone Harry knew wants to meet you." mike continued tapping away at the other end.
"Your tall poppy's actual got a writer for me?" A light bounce found its way into his step.
Mike grunted, "More like the firm is going to get a big check if our mystery man likes you."
Aster stopped in his tracks. "It sounds like you're selling me to a drug ring."
"We try to sell you on a regular basis. I think that's our job. You in, or I have to put you on Harvey's smudge list for a little?" Mike sighed into the phone. Aster pulled it away from his ear. That was... Odd.
"Smudge?" he asked.
Now infinitely more cheerful, Mike chirped, "I came up with it. People who either refused him, or annoy him, but are necessary."
"The weird guy, Louis, on that list?" Aster barely remembered him.
There was a click on the other end. "Hm... No..."
"So, I'll be the only one?"
"No, Jacinda Barrett has yet to call him back about dinner."
Aster frowned. "You're not supposed to tell me things like that."
"She's never going to call him back, so I don't see the issue."
Aster sighed, "Mike..."
"Aster..." the little dipstick mimicked. "Chill. She's married to Gabriel Macht. Got a pen?" He rattled off an address.
Aster winced as he penned the address onto his sketch of Notre Dame. "Yeah... This place at nine?"
Mike chirped back, "Sharp, and sketch some scenery. Don't want to get smudged!"
"You're learning far too much from Jessica."
Aster just listened to the receiver click and the dial tone play.
Aster breathed deeply trying not to choke on air. When he took down the address, he googled it. In the meantime, his computer fried after he spilled coffee on it.
The Workshop, he was in The Workshop, the home of one the biggest corporate enterprises on earth. This place singlehandedly kept Christmas alive in fourteen countries.
He still liked Easter better, but he had to give kudos. It was a pretty big freaking deal. He was also in the tallest building in New York. Not that that made him uncomfortable. No, it didn't make him uncomfortable at all. He was calm and cool and... Who was he kidding? There was a reason why he wasn't looking out the wall of glass behind his interviewer.
The man stroked his beard while going over a few preliminary sketches Aster brought along. A cavernous, cave city sprung from the back ground in one. In another, a castle of pink and violet, filled with Arabic influence, dominated the scene. Then, he had a little cabin, with rooms filled with Marchen and baroque patterns. There was a huge cavern filled with gothic architecture and a simple street.
Aster grimaced as the man's face contorted into a disapproving frown. His leg tapped silently in double time, hoping he didn't look jittery. Why couldn't the earth just open up and send him back to his little hole of an apartment?
The man sniffed. "I like."
Aster stilled. Nicholas St. North, king of children's toys and the center of Forbes's Real Santa article, liked his work. Oh, the room started spinning.
The man took one look at his face and laughed. The sound rocked the table. "You will be great designer. I feel it in my belly."
"Err... Yeah, Mr. St. North." Aster breathed deeply.
"I hire you now! Call me North; I call you Bunnymund." Aster nodded. He should take this as a sign of good faith.
North grinned and looked at his resume. "Sorry, must go through motions, you know. You say you worked in cafe and flower shop?"
Aster nodded. "Anthea's is a small place by Murray's. They couldn't afford to keep me on. 68th Street Flowers went bankrupt." North nodded.
"Harvey say you want to paint books?"
"Yeah, little kiddie books. Tell them stories." Aster went on, "Give them something to think about. Books are really good for kids. They give a sort of happiness that you can't get anywhere else. It's really hard to explain, but..." He trailed off. What was the word for it?
North leaned Back in his chair. "Tell me, Bunnymund, what is your center?"
"Center?" The big man got out of his char and lumbered to the walnut shelf along the wall. On the top shelf, there sat a matryoshka. Aster blinked. He recalled seeing that as he walked in. The detail, even from the distance, was impressive. But, he thought, that's just a toy, isn't it?
"No, Bunnymund, this isn't just a toy. Take a closer look." North pressed the doll into Aster's hands. He ran his fingers over the painted wood, feeling the texture. The doll was made extremely well, almost as if it grew into that shape.
"What do you see?"
"You?"
"What else do you see?"
"You're scary?" "Intimidating?" He searched for the crease and cracked it open.
He looked at the smiling face, "You're happy. Oh, jolly!" North beamed at him and motioned for him to move on.
Aster opened the next. He asked, bewildered, "You're a vampire?" North choked on air and gave him a desperate look. Aster squinted.
"Mysterious?" North sighed, shaking his head with a patient smile on his face.
Aster smiled at the next. "You're caring." He ran his thumb pad over the deer.
He opened the final layer. "And you're a child?"
"What does child do when face with Santa?"
Aster looked beyond the sinking feeling in his chest. Christmas wasn't always... Sweet in his childhood. It was more asking for a family every Christmas and not getting one. He remembered the last Christmas he believed in Santa. It was terrible to stake all your belief in one thing, just a sign, only to find nothing when morning broke.
He thought to the little girl he saw in the lobby down stairs. He knew the look in her eyes as she gazed up at the huge globe in the center of the room and all those glowing dots that represented homes to be filled with presents. There was purity there. Something only found in childhood.
"Wonder." Aster gazed at the little wide-eyed babe in his palm.
"Yes, wonder, like a child. I see all the wonder in world and put in my toys." Aster reassembled the matryoshka and placed it in North's hand.
"What is your center?"
Aster glanced over his sketches... "Imagination?"
North rolled his eyes. "You will learn. Rakesh told so. Now, I get Phil; move your things."
Aster blanked. "What? Rakesh? Move?"
The large man, Aster presumed bodyguard, waved to North and headed to the elevator.
The older man grinned. "Yes, job require you live with me."
"What exactly does this job entail?" Aster paled. Was he really being sold to the Russian mob? That was just a joke. Just a joke. He was far too well trained in martial arts, and hairy to be a good commodity. Sure, there all types but not for his type. Who liked people who liked Easter over Christmas? You had to be at least a little odd in the head.
North shrugged on his coat as Aster gathered his things together. He listed off the job detail, two things specifically. "You will build world, find my son."
"What? How are those related?" Aster stilled. Okay... A little odd in the head...
North took one look at his face and shrugged, like Aster was missing something very important. "Sandman explain," he said.
Aster trailed after him to the elevator. "Sandman? You're kidding."
He realized as the elevator door shut behind him, that North was serious.
"Crikey"
Read on AO3 because there are so many fandoms crossing into this that I can't even express what a mess it would be to list everything. I also have slathering of OC's and a good number of editorial changes.
If you continue to read here, please pop me a message every once in a while otherwise I might forget to post. Thanks ahead of time.