Work Text:
Sapnap didn't know what to expect honestly, the store was always full of surprises. But everyday something new always seemed to make it their mission to bemuse him. Take for example, when he heard the crunching coming from the furthest corner of the store. He was on patrol, so he felt obligated to investigate and make sure a wild animal hadn't gotten in or something. Grabbing a broom, he rounded the aisle corner, fully prepared to swat at a raccoon that got let in.
What Sapnap did not expect to see was to find one of the young employees, Tommy, sitting on the floor, knees to his chest with empty freezer boxes surrounding him and.... eating cookies?
The kid didn't appear to have seen him yet, the music that was blasting from the headphones must have cancelled out the noise of Sapnaps (admittedly loud) footsteps. He nudged the blonde's shoulder gently, trying to prevent the teen from spooking, but failed. The boy jumped, tugging his headphones off as he spun to face the older. Tommy stuck his foot out in an attempt to hide the cookies, a look of panic on his face.
Sapnap huffed a laugh and cut Tommy off before he could form any excuses. “Technically, I should be mad at you for eating on the job you know.”
Tommy opened his mouth but Sapnap beat him to it. “Just make sure you hide in a better spot next time, yea? Try the freezers, you might meet a new snack buddy or something, you never know.” Sapnap had long since then stopped looking at the boy, instead looking down at his clipboard which displayed his tasks for the day.
He raised his head when Tommy spoke. “S-sorry man,” Tommy was standing now, a hand resting on the back of his neck. “I've uh, I've just been really busy unloading trucks and stuff all day, an- and I havent really had my break yet so I-”
Sapnaps eyes widened. “You haven't gone on break yet!?” Now he was worried, it was nearly three, the younger should've eaten hours ago. Tommy just shrugged
“A bunch of trucks came today, and the shelves needed to be stocked, so I kinda just… didn't stop till it was done I guess?” Tommy wrapped a hand around his arm, rubbing it, before his eyes widened in realization. “If you need me to get back to work I will! I was just eating a quick snack, I-I swear it'll hold me over for the rest of the day, I'll go right now-” The kid was panicking, anyone could see that.
Sapnap gently grabbed the boy's shoulders, staring him in the eyes. “No, Tommy, I'm not mad- it's just-... you got here at 7am?” He checked his watch just to make sure his time was right. “It's 2.30pm right now dude, go on your breaks.”
Tommy let out a sigh, his lanky form shaking like a leaf. “Heh, yea I guess I should pay more attention to that.”
“Yea, dude don't you like, have low blood pressure or something?”
“I usually just end up drinking a coke and that helps with it.”
Sapnap pursed his lips, “Surely only drinking a coke during a full day shift leaves you hungry?” he started walking towards the doors he came through, gesturing Tommy to do the same.
The blonde just shrugged again, “I mean, I eat some snacks when I get home, Tubbo made sure of that a while ago.” he laughed but Sapnap found no humour in that sentence.
Sapnap pushed through the door into the main part of the store. “Just snacks? You get off at 3:30 aren't you hungry?” He gazed at the teen beside him, now that he was paying attention, Tommy was a bit skinny for his age.
“Yea, that's why I eat the snacks.” Tommy stared at him, confused.
“No, I meant like full-... Never mind, just- just go take a break you child.” With some grumbling about being a 'big mature adult', he stood and shuffled out of the aisle and towards the break room, cookies in hand.
It appeared that Tommy didn't seem to realise the importance of a full meal (heaven knows why not, Sapnap's own parents had practically drilled it into him, but he supposed that everyone's childhoods were different).
Sapnap supposed it was up to him to change the teens mind. He would just have to give him a little nudge...
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Tommy sighed, closing the delivery doors. It was the last truck for today and he had the night shift, that meant do nothing for the next two hours. Thankfully he remembered to take his break this time, as he was positively starving.
He hadn't been able to sneak any food from the pantry that morning, as his parents were in the kitchen before he went to work. He had just resigned himself to eat some stale chips as he rushed to work.
Tommy made his way to the tills, using his never pocket money to buy a chocolate bar, and a rockstar, feeling a pang of guilt as he did so. Yea, he was hungry, starving even, but his parents had made it clear that saving his money was important, and even though he knew that spending some was okay, was normal, he always felt… wrong, when he spent more than a few dollars on food during work. The chocolate bar and energy drink would hold him off for now.
Clocking out for his half hour break, he made his way upstairs. Hopefully Tubbo was on his break as well -he didn't really feel like talking to anyone else.
He passed the main offices, stopping when he noticed Sapnaps door was still open, the light on. That was weird. The managers always locked their doors when they left. He poked his head in the room. No one. Turning off the light and shutting the door he continued his trek to the break room.
He pushed open the door of the breakroom to see… a plate of food on the table? But, whose was it..? Sapnap stepped into his view, and- oh no, he had that look on his face. The look that meant that he was going to get what he wanted, no matter what.
"You. Sit. Now."
Tommy was speechless, frozen in confusion and worry. He found himself being pushed forward by Sapnap and into sitting on a cushioned chair. The food smelled heavenly, his stomach grumbled in greedy agreeance.
Whilst distracted by the god tier food, Sapnap had managed to snatch his rockstar and chocolate bar from his grasp. Oh god, he was going to crash so hard later.
Reaching out he tried to grab the energy drink that was stolen from him, it was futile as he was basically trapped on the chair.
"Sapnap, what the hell brov?" Not that he would turn away free food, but was it okay to assume it was his? Maybe Sapnap had just wanted him to sit down, have a conversation as the older ate.
That thought was quickly thrown away when Sap placed a bottle of chocolate milk in front of him. The raven still hadn't spoken again, and when he sat down he had his eyes locked on Tommy.
"You're going to eat a good supper at work from now on." The man stated, the manager's voice™ coating his words.
"Wha- why? Wait, do you think i have like.. an eating disorder or something? Sapnap I swear to you that I am perfectly fine thank you very much-"
"I'm not saying you do," he cut in. "But eating good food, even while working, is still very important. I know you probably don't take it seriously, but I do. I'm going to make sure you get enough food for your growing teenage brain."
Sapnap stared him right in the eyes, and Tommy found himself gaping in confusion, feeling shocked. A glass of chocolate milk was shoved in front of him, and Sapnap sat across from him, watching patiently. “I- are you sure dude? Like I don't wanna make you-”
“Tommy.”
Tommy flinched and stopped fidgeting when the man spoke, Sapnap sighed and Tommy held his breath.
“You don't have to feel bad, or apologize. I care for you dude, you're like a- a little gremlin cousin, but you're actually cool.” Sapnap smiled “Just let me have this, okay?"
Tommy smiled back, a warm feeling spreading through his chest. He was so glad he worked here.
He started digging into the heavenly food, Sapnap chuckled a bit before turning his attention to a game on his phone. There was a comfortable atmosphere hanging in the air between the two of them when Sam walked in.
The man stopped in his tracks when he saw Tommy halfway through the plate of food. “Tommy? Are you sick? You don't look sick, but you're eating something other than energy drinks-...." A resigned expression fell on Sam's face. "Hell must have frozen over.”
Sapnap burst out laughing, and Tommy tried not to choke on his food mid-chew. Sam took off his sunglasses staring in joke awe at the teenage boy. “Amazing, I didn't think it was possible.."
"I know right? You all owe me one for finally settling the bet.” Sapnap commented, wiping tears from his eyes, still giggling.
Tommy spluttered and let out an indignant squawk. Despite his mouth being full, the two adults still managed to hear his curses and swears directed towards them. “fuk you, innit.” It was muffled, but got his point across pretty well if he did say so himself.
This caused another round of loud laughter from the two adults and he found himself smiling.
Tommy found himself joining in. He relaxed, his stomach was full and he was surrounded by people who cared about him.
He looked down at the time on his phone, he had time to take a quick nap. He hated to admit it but… he hadn't felt this full in a while, and the fact that Sap and Sam were both there, cracking jokes, made him overall feel a lot better. That warm feeling he had, was making him tired, even though he had a redbull before work he was now just… exhausted.
Once the laughter had quieted down he finished his plate, and threw the styrofoam item in the garbage. Looking at Sam and Sap he assured himself that they wouldn't mind him putting his head down for a bit, they were both seemingly playing games on their phones anyways.
He briefly took out his phone and set a timer for when his break ended. Setting his phone down, and resting his head in his arms, he finally succumbed to the begging of his eyelids to close.
He had crashed, he knew he had. Someone like him doesn't just not drink an energy drink when he usually does without crashing. He had known it would eventually happen at work, but it was so much easier to just caffeine crash at home.
It was too late now to get a drink anyways, with Sapnap guarding the monster he had bought, and the fact that Sam would definitely not let him drink it whilst in his presence, left him at the mercy of his burnt out body. At least his alarm would wake him before his break ends. He took a deep breath, re-adjusting his head, before fully falling asleep.
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Sapnap looked up from his phone, of course the kid had fallen asleep. To be fair, he had expected it, the blonde consumed energy drinks like they were oxygen, so it wasn't a surprise that he'd crash when he didn't get another within a few hours.
He sat upright from his hunched position, and reached over to Tommy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sam closely tracking his movements. Finally managing to snatch the kids phone he quickly disabled the alarm. Tommy was finally getting rest, there was no way in hell he was letting ‘finish cleaning up the backroom’ get in the way of that.
Sam hummed and sat up too. Sapnap tensed. If the other man reached to wake up Tommy, then he would bite Sam's hand off. But he made no move towards the kid, instead reaching for the cabinet where they stored a few extra blankets, and bringing out a decently heavy one.
He nodded approvingly when Sam fluffed the blanket and laid it on the shoulders of the sleeping teen in front of him. God why did Tommy have to pull his heart strings like this.
He got up and headed towards the light switch as Sam gathered his things to leave. Dimming the lights and stepping in the hallway he watched as Sam followed him out the door.
“Keep an eye on him okay?” Sam whispered. “I'll clock back in for him, just make sure he wakes up before we close, alright?” the man leaned to the side, peeking back in the room where they could see the rise and fall of the kids back.
“Will do Sammy. I'll make sure he's alright.” Sapnap smiled at the man. Sam gave him a fistbump before walking down the stairs and back to the main floor, ready to warn everyone not to go into the main break room for a while.
Sapnap stepped back into the dark room. He sat down at the opposite end of the table and opened the managers group chat.
--Groceries, not drugs--
-CrackNap- So what do you guys think about maybe making a food plan for some of the minors?
Several people are typing…
-CrackNap- also you all owe me five bucks