Work Text:
As every day started, Chuck felt the same dread build in his muscles as he did today. He feels too tired to get up but he knows he has to, he’ll probably get fired if he’s late for another day of work.
He sits up and throws himself out of bed. He tumbles onto the floor and gets up, using the wall for support. “Seriously, Chuck! Get it together!” he scolds himself, lightly slapping his face to make him wake up more.
He looks at his floor-standing mirror to see the miserable sight of himself. He decides to change nothing about his appearance except for putting on his work clothes and a binder.
His work is a bakery cashier. The bakery’s entire theme is fantasy and magic, so his outfit has bright colors. His purple shirt sports a striking green “C” that stands for “Crumbs” of the bakery’s name: Crumbs and Bites. He pretends that it stands for his name.
He laces his worn, orange sneakers before sliding into his tiny bathroom. He brushes his teeth, runs his hands through his hair with only water styling it, and smiles dumbly. He could spend years describing everything wrong with his face, with his body, but he doesn’t have time.
He trots downstairs to greet the receptionist who works at his apartments. She says something sourly, and yet it doesn’t matter to him. He’s suddenly feeling better. Maybe it’s the thought of seeing his coworkers or his… amazing manager. If he stays thinking of him, he might get lost, so he clears his mind and walks a block to the right until he hits his work.
He opens the door and it chimes with the silly bells his manager put up last week.
“Oi! Chuck E. Cheese!” a voice shouted his entire name at him. He looked to the clock to make sure he wasn’t late. He was on time! The speaker stood up from crouching under the counter. “Harry’s been wondering where you were. Clean the tables before we open, it’s supposed to be a heavy day.”
“Sure thing, Ron,” he replied, grabbing a rag and some cleaner from the supplies closet. He rubbed down every table best he could, subsequently making the floor dirty so he began to get the broom out when someone stopped him.
“Let Hermione do that,” Ron suggested. Chuck shrugged and put the broom back.
Chuck stood guard at the cash register, putting his mandatory gloves on to keep everything as sanitary as possible. He felt tired again.
“Ron, you do it! Hermione’s been researching the most effective ways to make pastries while you’ve been standing around,” Harry’s voice tells Ron from somewhere that Chuck can’t see.
“Ugh, fine!” Ron said back.
Some other things are said but Chuck can’t hear. Harry comes out of the back and stands next to Chuck.
“How’s life been?” Harry asks, making small talk. Horrible. Sad. Poor. Tired.
“Same old, same old. What about you?”
“Well, this is my life, haha. Good business-wise, but… there’s something missing.”
“Maybe we’re not marketing enough cakes?”
Harry laughs breathlessly. It’s music to Chuck’s ears. “No, something is supposed to be in my life that I’m missing. Ever since Ginny left…”
Chuck’s stomach drops. He doesn’t like to think of Harry’s ex. “Why don’t you try to date or something? Isn’t that what people do to get over things?”
Harry smiles fondly. “I don’t think I want to branch out very far.” His eyes glance down then back up again, making Chuck feel very exposed. Not in a bad way, though. “Anyway, I was going to open early today, if that’s okay?”
Chuck nods. Harry looks away and walks toward the door. He flips the sign and suddenly a woman is pushing her way past Harry rather rudely.
“Who is the manager of this place?!” she screams.
Harry calmly answers, “I am, ma’am, what seems to be the problem?”
She turns to him with her hands on her hips. “I have been waiting for my doughnuts for 30 minutes!” She huffs.
Harry nods like she’s making any sense. “Are you sure you got your doughnuts from this shop? We don’t sell doughnuts and we haven’t been open for 30 minutes yet. Maybe you were thinking about Crumbles and Brights? That place is just across the street from here.”
“How dare you?! I am never wrong!” She stomped out of the shop and immediately went to Crumbles and Brights. Chuck watched as she exited with four boxes of doughnuts.
“Weird beginning,” Harry said.
“Weird day, then,” Chuck replied. Harry smiled. That smile was enough to sweep a man off his feet. He wished it would.
Hours pass, people get their desserts, everything is calm.
No one is in the shop as Harry approaches Chuck swiftly. “I was thinking, what if we took a break? Ron can man the cash register while you and I eat some cream horns.”
“Oh, that sounds amazing. Can we do that?”
“Sure! Why not?” Harry calls to Ron, “Ron, get on the cash register.”
Ron begrudgingly does so. Harry grabs a bunch of cream horns and they sit in the break room.
Chuck takes the first bite of the pastry. Delicious. Harry is watching him, though, making him a little self-conscious. He swallows and asks, “Why are we doing this?”
“Do you want to go out with me?”
That was abrupt! This can’t be happening. This must be a ruse to make fun of Chuck’s little crush. How mean… “Doesn’t that go against company policy?”
“We don’t work for a company.” Oh, right. “I’ll… take that as a no. I’m sorry I made you deal with this--”
“No! Wait, I want to.” Please let this be real.
“Really?” Harry looks like he’s going to cry. “That’s great!” He leaps across the table they were dining at and knocks Chuck to the floor in passion. It hurts but he’s fine.
Finally, things were looking up for Charles Entertainment Cheese.