This fic is a part of the Phandom Big Bang 2015, a masive collaboration between writers, betas and artists.
A/N: This journey lasted definitely much longer than my bus rides from school. Creating this big monster (but with fluffy ears!) took around 4 months of my life. But nothing would happen if not for my amazing team :D
So big thanks to my beta *parttimestoryteller* for standing all those typos I've managed to make, I hope I didn't give you too big headache! Thanks to my artist *surfingpotato* who created this awesome art and despite her busy life, found some time for this child! And I would also like to thank all the mods for the amazing work and the effort they put into PBB, and Gina, my squad leader especially. I'm sure if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to post this. Thanks to all of you, it was a really long but nice journey.
Make sure to check out Iona's (parttimestoryteller on Tumblr) work, as she also wrote a fic for the PBB ^^
I hope you enjoy reading :)
Massive thanks one last time!
"Can I have another glass of this, please?" Dan looks up to see Joey, the well-known client of the Raspberry Bar. Sitting on the chintzy raspberry-like colour stool which should see a washing machine soon, his eyes are drawn to the wood, glancing up only for a second to show the same despair they always seem to have.
"Yeah, of course," Dan replies and serves the drink swiftly. He makes a mental note to watch out for how much the slouched man drinks that night when he places the glass in front of Joey. He only shows up from time to time but when he does, the till draw grows heavy and Dan can count on good tips. However, Dan doesn't think drowning sorrows in a chemical substance can lead to anything good.
He turns around and brushes sweat off of his forehead before he begins to dry glasses with a cloth.
It's a typical, busy Friday night shift at the Raspberry Bar. The place is much more crowded than usual but it's still as boring as ever here, maybe a bit more boring with no Nessa around. His friend and coworker had been dying for over a month to see a bad zombie movie with her boyfriend, but having a job at a place like Raspberry Bar can complicate your life and Dan knew about it.
Their boss, Michael, an uncompromising and relentless person, would never agree to one of them taking a day off. He would brant about them being lazy or immediately cut some money off of their salary.
Happily for Nessa, Michael had to 'take care of some stuff' as he put it, and the girl could sneak out without any arguments after. Dan didn't have anything against her idea if it wasn't to happen on Friday, the busiest day in whole week. He was sure he would say a simple 'no' and just begin his shift but damn, Nessa had the most effective puppy eyes mode ever and, well, he ended up working alone.
Dan hears the big steel front door open and he looks up. A bunch of laughing guys come in, a few of them with bags over their shoulder, some of them even holding a camera in their hands. They all seem happy; joking around and smiling widely. All besides a blue eyed boy standing at the back of the group.
Dan doesn't mean to, he really doesn't mean to hear the conversation, but the sudden end of the song lets the words drift easily to his ears,
"Dude, brighten up! Remember today is the first day of new you!" a blond guy says to blue eyes, patting him on the back. "We gotta celebrate this moment!" he grins to him and the other only flashes him a weak smile, fidgeting slightly because now he had drawn attention of the whole group.
"Guys, leave Phil be and let's find some seats," a curly brown haired boy quickly cuts in before anyone else does. The group lets go and gets to the last empty table at the bar which stands in the same corner, beside a dim lit lamp.
Shrugging his shoulders, Dan puts the glasses back on their shelf. It's seriously not his business and he wouldn't normally care, but the mysterious 'Phil' guy caught his attention the second he walked through that door. Dan would have like to think more about him, but next customer walks up to the bar and he decides to forget about the boy. It lessens his productivity after all and Dan doesn't want any of the customers to report him. It could cause him a lot of trouble and Dan has already too much hassle with this job.
The group in the corner keeps ordering drinks for around three hours before they slowly start to gather their belongings. They've been the loudest customers today, laughing like crazy and having, what seemed to be, loads of fun.
When the curly haired boy gets up to the bar, Dan has to stop himself from letting out a frustrated grumble. Secretly, he had hoped to talk with the intriguing blue-eyed boy tonight, but perhaps their paths just weren't meant to cross.
"Hi, I'd like to settle the payment," the man gives him a big smile and Dan feels a rush of dread and sweat running down his heavy and baggy blouse he's wearing.
What if the boss sees this? Oh no, what if he- wait, he's not here today, Dan recalls and lets out a deep breath, the tension in his arms lessening up a bit.
He's always nervous when his boss is around, not only because of who he is, but for the attitude he's shown to Dan from the day he was hired. Michael acts weird around him, like he's jealous of him and other people's attention. It changes even more when they're alone. Michael once tried to ask him out and Dan obviously said 'no' as the age gap between them scares him almost as much as the man himself. Needles to say, Dan is definitely creeped out by him.
"Big traffic today, huh?" the boy chats him up and Dan half shakes, half nods his head.
"You can say that," he shrugs and finally comes up with the whole bill. It's really big but he's not particularly surprised. "You guys just aced an exam?" he jokes, grinning a bit as he looks over the numbers. He can't help but feel a bit disappointed, that his own education ended as quickly as it did.
Dan glances at the boy and immediately shuts his mouth, hoping he didn't go too far with the conversation.
The boy doesn't seem offended though. He just smirks lightly,
"Well, you can say that," Dan laughs at that, loosening up. The boy leans on the counter and stuffs some hair behind his ear, "One of my friends decided to make one big collaboration with people from our course and that's how we're here." he looks a bit tipsy but that's only Dan's opinion. "He also took it on himself to change my friend," the boy exhales deeply, "like he didn't know some things aren't that simple..." he goes quiet and Dan does as well because he can understand this too.
They talk and Dan finds out the boy also likes good old rock bands, like AC/DC and Aerosmith and they both share the same passion for the Wirrow art and love for pizza without cheese. What seems to be even cooler is that the 'Phil' guy has really similar interests as the two which makes Dan even more excited about the idea of meeting him.
"And you just gotta get to know Phil! I'm sure you would hit it off, you'd be like Siamese twins!"
Dan blushes hard at the remark. Just thinking about 'Phil' somehow makes him feel like a giggling teen girl. He glances guiltily at the stares he gets from other waiting customers and he really can't get reported. He clears his throat, hoping the boy gets the hint and won't take his attitude as rude,
"Here's the bill," Dan smiles apologetically and hands the bill along with a small advertising leaflet about the bar. The boy quickly shakes out of his daze and pulls out a galaxy patterned wallet. "Nice design," Dan comments and the boy laughs.
"Cool tattoos," he says in return and Dan mumbles a 'thank you', rolling down the sleeves as he feels a little bit too aware of his own well-being in that moment. The boy sends him a wide grin, "Well, I hope we could hang out sometime, you seem like a cool guy," he says. He dumps the money onto the bar before Dan can even give him the change. Reaching his group of friends, the boy pulls on his backpack and leaves, waving slightly to Dan as they all exit. Dan can make out the curious and questioning look 'Phil' shoots him a few times and he blushes, picking at the strands of his black but bleached blouse.
"Yo, can you finally serve us?" an annoyed man with a shaved head and thick chains around his neck asks, his tone a bit aggressive, and Dan fast gets back to work.
Later, after his shift is over and he counts money in the register, he realizes the boy tipped him a twenty pound note and Dan sucks in a breath, smiling. He closes the bar with a strange fuzzy feeling as he thinks about hanging out with the boy or 'Phil'. Maybe they could really 'hit it off'? Maybe they could become frie-
Dan stops abruptly in his tracks, looking around to remind himself he's all alone on the street on this scruffy side of London. He shakes his head at the faint flashes of his father's voice, at his angry, accusable screams that grew smaller and smaller as he slammed the doors of the place he called 'home' for 15 years, and left with no intention of ever going back.
Dan still remembers how certain he was that living on his own would be problem-free. And how in the beginning it was. With the money he had saved, it wasn't much different than regular life, perhaps with small differences like constant uncertainty. But when he started running low on everything, food and rent money especially, he understood that everything was only going to go down from there. And with the next shut doors at his face as he asked about a job and another spent night under a piece of cardboard where he would rather watch out for psychos lurking in the dark than sleep, Dan finally understood how harsh life is.
He starts his walk again, his breath creating puffs in the cold June air.
He curses as he steps onto a sharp object and only prays it doesn't make another hole in his worn out soles. He knows though that he can do nothing about his shoes which are literally falling apart. He balls his fists as he holds back a sarcastic comment he'd surely make if the situation happened not now but a year ago. Depending on what you experience in your life, your perception and character change. Dan doesn't argue with that thought as he heads into the direction of his new home.
The boy tries not to think about how awesome it would be to feel normal again, and simply hang out with someone, but his mind knocks the idea out of his mind with a good effect,
Time to get back to reality, Daniel.Life isn't filled with rainbows and flying kittens. You can only count on yourself. No one's gonna be there to save you. So grow up, boy.
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