Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

---> Be John.

Your name is John Egbert. You hate your job.

Well, no. You love it here, but sometimes minimum wage isn’t worth it for the bullshit you go through almost daily.

Of course there are things you still enjoy, such as slow days like these where you’re working alone. You get to make yourself frappes and doodle on napkins and pick your own music. Every few hours a person or two will come in and you’ll rush to make their coffee so they can get out.

One particular man caught your eye; a blonde haired, triangle shade wearing douchebag who had arms covered top to bottom in tattoos. He looked familiar but you couldn’t put your finger on it.

“Hello! What can I get for you today?” you ask.

“Hey, I’ll have a tall black coffee with a splash of cream and one sugar.”

That’s where you know him from! You recognize the order as the one your best friend gives you for his bro’s coffee. Dave (your aforementioned best friend) describes him as pretty high up on the “cool scale”. He works at the highest rated tattoo shop in town, just down the street. Considering the time was around lunch you assume he was on his break.

“Can I get a name for that order?” You drag your pen up from the table and lift it to the cup. “Dirk, D-I-R-K.”

You comply to make his order as you normally do and he sets his tablet down to, what you assume, design a tattoo.

You notice he seems like he’ll be here all break so you start making small talk to
pass time.

“I like your tattoos, the heart one is cool. Is it from a game or something?”

He glances over at you a little confused but nods. “It’s from a game my brother made me play, we had the copies for a while before playing it. It’s fun, it’s called sBurb, I think you can get it on Steam.”
I smile to myself; it’s nice having people who are as talkative as I am.

“I’ll look for it when I get off,” you set the mostly-made cup of coffee on the counter to add the cream. “How much cream did you want?” Without looking up, he answers and smiles. “Got it.”

This went on for about 20 or so minutes. You’d comment on something or he’d ask about the job here and it’d go for a few minutes with a minute of silence between topics. It was one of the nicest slow days you’d gotten in a long time.

He stands up to leave, but you frantically shout for him to wait a second. You scribble your number onto a napkin and hand it to him.

“You’re nice to talk to and I thought we could maybe be friends and play that game together at some point?”

He looks at it, nods, and walks on out. You see him look at it again after he walks out and smiles. A strange yet positive nauseating feeling pools in your stomach, but you ignore it and go back to work.

-

A month or so has passed and you two have been texting nearly every night, staying up and gaming, and calling. He helped you level up in sBurb and now you two do quests together on occasion.

He comes in every work day of his at the same time like clockwork to talk to you on his break and get discount coffee. You’ve also learned over this time period that his “black coffee” order isn’t what he likes but he likes to sound cool so he gets it anyways.

His actual order is closer to a latte than anything, so you started just making that and he’ll order “black coffee” out loud as a sort of code word. You didn’t question why or his reasoning behind wanting to sound cool, you just let him have it because it seems to make him happy.

He sits down at the bar to the right of you and patiently waits for his coffee.
As you make his drink, an older middle-aged man who looks to be about your dad’s age comes in. He almost demandingly orders a caramel macchiato and sits down.

You make his drink right after Dirk’s and he sips it at his seat, so of course you brush it off and think nothing of his bitter attitude other than perhaps a bad morning. You understand.

A few minutes later he comes up to the counter asking who made his drink, and you go up to him saying it was you. You may be a prankster but you’re no liar, even in this sort of anxiety-inducing situation.

He started going off about how there’s too much milk and not enough coffee and eventually you’re able to get out that you can’t remake it for him, as he’d already drunk it. He then raises his voice and starts insulting you personally.

Dirk stands up, you assumed so he could leave because he was uncomfortable, but instead he taps the man’s shoulder and asks him why he’s mad and tries to deal with him. You sigh in relief due to you being close to tears at that point.

“The hell’s going on out here?!” Your manager and other best friend, Karkat, had heard the ruckus and decided to come out. “You can go to the back and calm down.”

You speed walk to the back and sit down on the floor until you hear footsteps.

“Come in?” A quiet door opens and Dirk kneels in front of you. “You good dude? Loud man said that guy was upsetting you and let me come back here.”
You nod, half smiling because it felt nice that he was worried about you. Not that you want him to worry of course, it’s just a good feeling, being cared about.

He sits down in front of you and you talk until the door swings open once again.

“‘Customer’s always right’ my ass! God, that dude was stubborn.” Your manager and other best friend walks in and looks at Dirk then back to you. “Anyways, you’re good to go home as long as you open tomorrow.”

You let out a sigh of relief and lean back. “Thank you Karkat. I’ll be in early.” You start to stand up, but look back at Dirk before leaving.

“Wanna come over?”

“Sure, I could watch one of your shitty movies. You won’t shut up about them.” You playfully punch him in the arm and he laughs. “I’m kidding, they’re not that bad.”

“You bet they aren’t! Talk bad about them again and I’ll actually start serving you black coffee.” You two walk out of the break room.

“Want me to drive you home?” He asks, twirling his keys. “I drove here, I’m not gonna just leave my car here.” You laugh and he looks down at his feet. “Right. Yeah. That would make sense.”

“You’re great, but you’re kinda dumb sometimes,” He rolls his eyes. “Not the worst thing you could be.”

Before you leave he fist-bumps you and tells you he’ll text you when he’s off.

-

Ding.

You look down at your phone.

“I’ll respond in a bit.”

Ding. Ding. Ding.

“Jeez- Ok hold on.”

You pick it up and open your chatting app.

timausTestified [TT] began pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 04:20
TT: Yo, I’m off work.
TT: Dude you there?
TT: Come in Egderp.
TT: For fuck’s sake. If you’re asleep I’m gonna spam you until you wake up.
TT: Actually no you need the sleep.
EB: i'm here lol!
EB: not asleep just watching a movie.
TT: Oh there you are.
TT: What time should I come over?
TT: Also I don’t think I have your address so unless you want me to use telepathy or some shit you’re gonna have to hand it over.
EB: jeez. >:B
EB: im at the apartment buildings a block down from the coffee shop on the left.
EB: room 413.
EB: you can come over whenever honestly.
TT: Is now cool?
EB: oh, sure! let me clean up a bit.
TT: Got it. I’ll leave in about 10 minutes, you’re a bit of a drive away.
EB: hope it’s not too bad of a drive!
TT: Nah don’t worry I go down there for work every day so I don’t mind.
TT: I’ll see you when I’m there then.
EB: see you!
timausTestified [TT] ceased pestering ectoBiologist [EB] at 04:28

You should clean up, you think. Maybe get changed out of your uniform too.
You sit up and do said things, slipping a blue hoodie and some jeans on instead of your work clothes. You pick up some trash too while you’re up like you’ve been meaning to. “Should I make some food for him?” you mumble to yourself. You decide to do so, setting up some sandwiches for the two of you.

Before you’re even done fixing your couch up, you hear a knock at your door. “Shit, shit, shit- Hey!” You open the door and you’re greeted by the friendly bro of your bro. He doesn’t have best bro status yet but you have a feeling he’s getting there.
“Hey, nice place.” He walks in and takes his combat boots off, hanging his jacket on the hook next to the door.

“Thanks! I made some sandwiches for us, they’re in the kitchen,” he looks at you and smiles. “Do you wanna watch a movie?”

“Yeah dude, that’s kinda why I’m here. You think I’d watch this shit in my own free time?” Now you’re the one rolling your eyes and sighing. “Fair I guess. You can look through the pile and pick one out.”

You sit on the couch and he does just that, looking through the pile of movies you have and occasionally reading the descriptions.

“What about this one?” He holds up ghostbusters and your face lights up. “Dude yes! I love that movie, let’s do it.” He sits down on the opposite end of the couch as you put in the dvd.

The whole time he’s shit talking the characters or graphics, just finding something he can make fun of every minute. You admit the editing isn’t the best but it’s an old movie! It’s still a classic, good graphics or not.

“The hell is that green thing?”

“That’s Slimer! We’re halfway through the movie and you haven’t questioned it?” You look at him, half heated but in a joking way.

“Nah, just thought it was some mascot or some shit. Isn’t that the thing you wear on your apron sometimes?”

He noticed that?

“The pin? Yeah my dad got it on his business trip to Japan. It was some off brand Slimer thing he thought I’d like.”

“And do you?” He’s looking at you now. He might be one of the first people to make you forget about a movie.

“Yeah, of course. If I didn’t I wouldn’t wear it to work!” You laugh a little bit. He smiles back and nods.

“I guess that makes sense. Your dad sounds cool.”

You look back over at him then at the screen again.

“I’d say he is.”

He does that laugh thing where it’s really just a small breath out of your nose and looks back at the screen. It’s quiet between you two until the movie ends.

“We watchin’ the next one?” he asks.

“You actually want to?” You beam and lean towards him slightly.

“Yeah, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.”

“Yeah! Let me find it!”

You search through your DVD pile looking for the next movie, somewhat rushing in excitement. He seems amused by your enthusiasm, and that makes you happy.
“Here we are!” You hold up the game and replace the old movie with this one.

The movie starts and he stretches. “Tired?” you look over and ask. “Yeah, kinda, but I’ll stay awake.”
Spoiler alert, he didn’t.

He falls asleep somewhere between the middle and end - you weren’t really paying attention - and you are left just staring for a moment. He’s very pretty for a guy, you think, the Striders are just like that apparently. It might be the way they carry themselves or how smoothly they talk but something about them could attract anyone. You leave him to sleep on the couch and put a blanket over him, going back to your bedroom.

Hours and hours pass and he’s still not up. When was the last time he slept? He’d mentioned he had some sleeping troubles and nightmares, so you assume he just hasn’t been able to sleep the best lately. The thought makes your heart hurt a bit.

You end up falling asleep in your own bed eventually, not too concerned with him and his rest since you’ve barely heard any movement.

Before you fall asleep the last thought you have is, “With him coming in every day, maybe minimum wage might not be so bad.”

Chapter Text

---> Be Dirk.

Your name is Dirk Strider. You’re currently in your room working on another god-forsaken project to destress. You ask yourself why you work on things that usually just make you frustrated, until you remember you use it to stop from uselessly overthinking.

Your younger brother walks in holding one hot and one iced coffee. You know the hot one is yours, considering you’ve never had iced coffee. Thank god. Or, John really. You internally question if there’s a difference.

“Hey dude, I uh, suggested he do some funky shit to your coffee, and he said to not open the lid until you have it, so.” You raise an eyebrow, less at him, and more at John’s nonexistent presence in the room through Dave. Some sort of brain ghost John. You lift the lid and see a fucking dick (slightly altered due to the driving movements) made with half assed latte art. Anyone who didn’t know you or John would just see it as a messed up attempt at a heart or some shit, but you know him well enough to understand his message.

Dave holds back a laugh - presumably for your dignity - but the second you look at him stone-faced his containment is destroyed and he’s near to tears.
“Classic.” You shake your head and smile. Although your sarcastic tone could be misleading, you’re amused by John’s attempt to cheer you up.

“I’m gonna go over to his house in like, an hour to play games, if you wanna stop being a hermit and come with me.” He leaves and shuts the door before you can give him an answer. He comes back in to tell you, “Also Karkat’s gonna be there.”

“His manager?” You ask, confused as to why someone would hang out with their manager.

“Yeah, they’re like, best friends. That’s why he works there dude.” Oh. Nevermind then.

He leaves you to your work again and you sit in silence, staring at the open cup of coffee you’ve been given. You sigh and take a sip. It’s a bit sweeter than you’re used to. “He must’ve been in a good mood.” You smile at the thought. His happiness did mean a lot to you, of course you’d never phrase it like that out loud but it’s true.

“Dave!” You yell for your brother.

“What?”

“Come get me when you’re leaving!”

He pauses for a second, probably caught off-guard.

“Ok!”

You decide to get up and change finally. You have a bad habit of getting caught up in robotics when you’re off work and forgetting to take care of yourself like normal. Usually you have John text you things like “Take a break and stretch!” or, “Get water!” but today was busy, and you understand that. You’re a little offended he invited Dave to hang out but not you. You two live together. You’re a package deal.

Well no, since apparently he’s been coming over for years and you just recently met him. It was a pretty big reality slap to how often you secluded yourself to fuck around. Hell, Dave had been dating his girlfriend for over a year and you just met her when he took her to your shop. If you remember correctly, she was getting a tattoo of her granddad’s handwriting, some cheesy shit you didn’t really care about. She was sweet and paid well though so you weren’t bothered.

You change into a basic t-shirt for some band you've never heard of (you're pretty sure it's Dave's,) and black jeans. This will do. It's not anything special and you prefer being comfortable over looking nice.

The exception comes in at your hair, of course. You spend hours on that shit.

Which you immediately go to do, realizing you’ve yet to style your beautiful hair all day.

-

“You ready dude?” Dave peaked his head into your room as you sit on your bed, fucking around on your phone.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, let’s go.”

You stand up and walk out of your room behind Dave.

As you’re getting into the car, you smile gently to yourself, imagining John’s surprise seeing you there too. You don’t realize this however until Dave laughs.

“What?”

“You seem excited.” He raises an eyebrow at you while smiling, the bastard.

“Of course I am. John’s great,” You look back to the road as the car starts.

“Aren’t you?”

He nods, smiling. You don’t really know what his smiles mean because he doesn't do it often.

-

The car ride is painfully long and quiet. You were zoned out most of the time anyways, so you couldn’t tell until Dave announced, “We’re here.”

You open the car door, forcing your head to stop spouting random shit at you at 100 miles an hour as you walk up the stairs to his apartment.

Dave knocks in that one obnoxious pattern you can’t stand, but you forget as soon as you hear footsteps coming to the door.

“Hey- Dirk!”

He hugs you, as he normally does upon your arrival, and you hug back.

Dave is smiling at you and you hate it.

“I didn’t know you were coming! Shit, if I knew I’d clean up some more-”

“Nah it’s ok, my room’s probably not any better.” You smile down at him (you’ve got a good 5 inches on him height-wise and you take pride in that fact).

“It isn’t.” Dave chimes in. You shoot him a sort of ‘shut the fuck up’ look but he just walks in John’s apartment.

He’s right, though. John’s apartment has some clothes thrown around, empty cups of noodles on the ottoman in front of his couch, and some DVDs in a messy pile in front of the TV. The kitchen looked fine, however. He likes to keep it clean so he knows where everything is on the rare occasions he cooks for himself.

Then you surprise yourself with the fact you remembered that.

John shuts the door behind you as you walk in and you sort of half-smile at him in response.

“What kinda new loot you got?” Dave twirls his keys, looking between you and John. “Loot.” Karkat repeated.

“It’s a metaphor, twink.”

“I got this new game that was on sale the other day,”
They keep talking about games, arguing about who will be player one and player two and so-on, as you sit on the end of the couch. John’s next to you and Dave’s on the opposite end of you with Karkat to his left, you’re sure it was intentional.

You have a feeling he’s planning something but you can’t tell what.

They play for what feels like an eternity. You’re sitting there, glancing at John every couple minutes. Of course, he’s too entranced by the games to notice at all. Thankfully the same goes for Dave. Honestly, you feel like if Dave kept shooting that douchebag look at you, you think you’d just get up and leave. But at the same time, you know that’d upset John. You don’t think Karkat would care much. You don’t care either.

So you just sit there. You occasionally laugh at their failures and high five John when he wins or argue with Karkat on the logistics of a “win”, but other than that it’s uneventful.

Until John turns and looks at you, face red from laughing and his dorky ass buck-teeth shown to the world.

“Dirk, wanna play with us?” You look over, taking a second to process the question. “Sure, hand me the controller.”

He does so and you smile down at it. It’s a dark blue, like most things related to John. His covers, his curtains, his love of the sky, his text. You get the point. Dude likes blue. The joysticks or whatever the fuck are a lime green.

-

You four play until the sun is completely down. This fact is brought up by Dave, pointing to the window behind the TV.

“Oh, you guys should be going home.” John recommends. He’s smiling but despite that you can tell he’s a little disappointed. “I can get Kankri to drive me home then.” Karkat replies, you can tell he’s a little bit more than annoyed at the thought.

“I’d be fine with spending the night.” You add before Dave can argue. “You sure? Hah, ok, I guess the mess is homely huh.” John leans his arm on the back of the couch.

“I don’t think that’s what that means but, yeah, sure let’s go with that. Because your mess of shitty-”

“-Amazing.”

“Movies and DVDs, the cups of, what the fuck? Shrimp? Ok, shrimp ramen. Yes it’s ‘homely’ because my home is too boring.” He snickers and Dave laughs a bit.

“Oh my god, shut up.” Karkat comments, exaggerating.

This is a moment you’ll put in your mental scrapbook. The vibes are great and all four of you are happy. John has a sort of nasally laugh almost that you like to rag on him for, but it’s out of love of course. Platonic banter. Just how Texans show love, even if you don't live there anymore.

“Kankri’s on his way.”

“Can’t you drive?” Dave comments.

“Yeah, but I walked here from work, and it’s too far from my house to want to walk that far.” Karkat was now looking out the window.

“How’d you get to work then?”

“Why do you care? I’m getting picked up, drop it.”

Well shit dude.

The room quickly tensed and John looked anxious. You shoot him a worried glance, in which he responds by smiling at you, genuine but still panicked.
“We should do this again sometime. It was nice hanging out with your Karkat, I can see why John likes you.”

That lifted the mood a bit, but Karkat didn’t seem to return the sentiment. But then again, you’re probably the worst in the room at reading people.

“Yeah definitely! Maybe not here but,” John laughs, “Definitely again.” he smiles at you. You feel a warmth in your heart and smile. He was always very radiant, a good contrast next to your stoic self you think.

A small bit later of going over who technically got the furthest, there was a knock on his door.

“Oh, Kankri’s here, I'll see you tomorrow at work.” Karkat stands up and waves us off.

We wave back to him and John is smiling.

“I’m gonna get going too, want me to come get you tomorrow Dirk?” Dave twirls his keys.

“Yeah, I’ll text you.”

There’s a long silence as John is putting back the games and you're sitting on the couch with your hand on your cheek.

“Y’know you might have a point.”

He looks back at you and crooks his head. “What do you mean?” He puts the stack of DvDs back on the shelf.
“Well, this place is a bit more comfortable than my room.” You can tell he’s holding back a huge smile. He knows that means a lot from you, considering how much time you spend there.

You clear your throat because you feel awkward. “Physically, too.” You sort of pat the couch and look away. Not like he could see from behind your shades. John laughs and stands back up.

“Wanna order food?” He grabs and flips his phone in the air, inevitably dropping it. You smile at how fucking dumb that attempt to be cool was.

“Yeah, I might walk to the gas station and get some drinks or snacks.” You look at the door, waiting to get fresh air in the dark, one of your favorite things.

“I’ll go with you while we wait on the food!” He’s smiling, leaning against the back of the couch, phone in hand again. “Alright, that works.”

You take your glasses off for a second to rub your eyes.

“Woah.” John whispers, looking at you open mouthed. You look back at him, confused. “What?”

“I just haven’t really seen you without your glasses on.” He awkwardly looks back down at his phone. “Oh, huh.” You mumble.

He hands you his phone and you put in your order. He pays and you two stand up to leave.

“You ready?” You stand with your hands in your pockets and the glasses still hanging on your shirt collar.

He pauses, clears his throat, and nods. We walk through the door together and he smiles at me.

The walk is mostly quiet, he flinches at a few passing cars and laughs it off. You hold his hand as you cross the street and he’s almost hesitant to let go. You decide to make a mental note to give him a hug later. The comforting fluorescent lights of the gas station mixed with wood smell hits your face and I sigh.

“Just go grab whatever you want, I’ll pay.” you say, showcasing your wallet. He looks like he’s about to argue but decides not to. You walk around to grab some orange soda and an energy drink, since you still want to stay up and game with him or design tattoos.

You both paid for your stuff individually, per his guilt of having you pay for his things and leave.

You took your energy drink out your bag as we walked back to his apartment and took a sip. He looked at me, head tilted. “What’s that taste like?” He gestured to the orange can. You pause for a second, looking between him and the drink. “Kinda like orange soda and battery acid.” He furrowed his eyebrows and was visually concerned.

“That was a joke, I’m kidding.” You added. He laughs a little and takes it from your hand, scanning his eyes over the ingredients. “This sounds gross,” he looks at the label. “Can I try it?” Your eyes met for a slight moment and you sigh.

“Go for it, I’m not sure how much you’ll like it though.”

He takes a sip after you and immediately gags, spitting it back out onto the grass. “That’s so gross! Why do you drink this?”

“Feels like a punch in the face, keeps me motivated.” You joke. You grab it back from him and chug it in a sad attempt to impress him. It semi-worked, based on his raised eyebrows and widened eyes. His eyes are somehow still such a bright blue, even in the dark. You'd go as far as to say maybe they're even prettier than in the light.

You got back to the apartment after a bit of sarcastic banter, the usual for you two. You're not great at conversation so thankfully he's good at giving you things to say. Extroverts.

He holds the door open, walks in, and crashes on the couch. You laugh at him a little and set your stuff down. “It was a really short walk.” You remark, looming over him from behind the couch. “Get off my dick, Strider.” You stick your tongue out at him playfully and hand him his drink. His eyes light up as he twists the cap off, attempting to chug it then coughing.
“You good dude?” You laugh.

“Fine, I’m fine, I’m alllll good.” He coughs again and chuckles with you. It’s nice when he’s happy and joking like this.

The doorbell rings almost immediately after and he scrambles up off the couch. He’s trying to thank the delivery guy, but his coughing cuts him off. He’s giggling about his own fuck-up and sets the pizza down on the island counter. He opens the box and you go to his fridge to grab ranch.

“Ranch?” he asks, his head tilting.

“Never had pizza and ranch?” you respond in the same tone. “You’re so fucking weird.” he smiles. “Not my fault you aren’t a fan of my southern charm. I’m tryin’ over here man.” He simply shakes his head and you two move on. You grab the plates since with how often you come over, you know his kitchen pretty well. Silverware, plates, cups, hell even where he keeps the drinks in the fridge, leave it to Dirk to be your navigator.

-

You two eat and put on some obscure movie he found at the store because the cover looked interesting. He yawns around the middle of the movie, leaning his head back and sighing.

“You ok?” You ask, looking over at him with concern.

“Yeah, this movie’s just boring. I’m tired.” His arms stretch over his head.

“You should go to bed, we got shit to do. I’ll sleep on the couch.” You put a hand on his shoulder and he turns to look at you, fuckin puppy eyes. “No, sleep on my bed, it’d be mean if I had you sleep on the couch.” You roll your eyes and decide not to argue with him.

He stands up to fix up the couch, although it’s already pretty comfortable. If you’re completely honest you also like staying there because his couch is a much better place to sit than your desk chair or stiff bed. It’s got several pillows and throw blankets draped across the back.

“Night, John.” You say, the door open in front of you.

“Goodnight, Dirk!”

You smile softly to yourself, not a common expression for you. Of course you’re up later than him because you had an energy drink. You can hear his snoring from the other room about 10 minutes after he said goodnight. “Damn, he falls asleep fast.” You mumble.

You’re on his bed, legs crossed, phone in one hand snack in the other. You’re very careful not to get any crumbs in his bed. You take a moment to look around his room since you aren’t there often. His blanket is a quilt made with shades of blue ranging from indigo to a near white. His walls are grey of course, you’re sure if he could paint them they’d be some shade of green or blue. There’s various movie posters on the walls, his laptop closed on his desk, and his lamp still on. You silently question what he was doing on there.

He has nice carpet in there and the pillows are really soft. It’s fairly contradictory to your own room. Hard floors, uncomfortable bed, flat pillows. You’ve never invited him over and you plan to keep it that way.

-

A few hours pass, and you’re asleep on his bed. You had taken in the comforting feeling of his room until your eyes couldn’t stay open.