Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“ah, fuck me.”

the first thing daniel wakes up to his roaring alarm. he sluggishly turns it off giving a slight glance to the time, taking a double take. its 8 am. his lecture is in 20 minutes. now isn’t that just great!

daniel rushes out of bed taking the first pair of pants he can find, hoping they aren’t too dirty, and quickly slipping them on as he heads to the bathroom. no time for a shower, he thinks to himself while he squeezes toothpaste onto his toothbrush. he checks his phone again. 15 more minutes. it takes him 10 minutes to get to the campus. okay, he can do this. 

after doing the bare minimum of brushing his teeth and hair he runs to find a clean shirt to throw on and a pair of shoes. his backpack almost gets left behind as he rushes through the door. 9 more minutes. a morning jog never hurt anyone right?

showing up to a lecture slightly sweaty isn’t exactly ideal but hey! at least he got to the lecture in time, but apparently not early enough to find any seats that would alleviate him of social interaction. so with no other option left, daniel decides on a seat right in the middle of the lecture hall. by uncomfortably shuffling past the rest of the students, he finally reaches the seat and oh my god the absolute hunk of a man sitting next to him. no way is he gonna be paying attention to anything the professor has to say.

daniel now has two priorities:

1. get the guys number
2. not make an absolute fool of himself

should be easy enough right? except he’s sweaty and extremely disheveled. but as long you have confidence, you know? here we go.

“hey!”

“…”

no response. okay, that’s fine. maybe the man just didn’t hear him.

“hi! i’m daniel!”

“…”

is he deaf or an absolute asshole? turns out, daniels prolonged staring has caught his attention.

the unknown guy proceeds to take his left airpod out. well that explains everything.

“did you need anything?” he asks, and wow he has never seen someone as majestic as the man sitting before him. his hair is a deep chocolate color that matches his dark brown eyes. he has a bit of stuble that suits him perfectly. this man might just be his first true love. if daniel doesn’t blow his chances of course.

“uh, no, sorry! just wanted to introduce myself. i’m daniel!”

“oh, nice to meet you. i’m sergio.” 

“…”

“…”

well this is going great! 

“i’m from perth, australia! came here for studies. what about you?”

“me? guadalajara, mexico. i plan on living here.” sergio flashes a quick smile and daniel can feel his heart fluttering.

“oh, cool! i’ve always wanted to visit mexi-“

“i understand the need to find someone to blow you literally everywhere, but please refrain from doing so in my lectures.” the professor suddenly pipes up and both sergio and daniel go red. 

they don’t speak for the rest of the lecture and daniel has pretty much accepted that he’s lost his only chance at a relationship with sergio.

the lecture finally ends. daniel’s first to leave so he can escape the suffocating embarrassment, not even sparing a glance to sergio. 

on his way back to his apartment, daniel texts max telling him to bring every single bottle of alcohol he can find and some friends. he needs a distraction.

Chapter Text

and boy did he get a distraction. daniel’s currently drinking his 5th cocktail of the night and getting down to hips don’t lie by shakira, living his best life. 

he catches sebastian and max throwing him concerned glances over the night, but he doesn’t have the will nor time to ask them what’s up. and turns out he doesn’t have to because all of a sudden daniel can feel someone pulling him out of the crowd to a quiet corner, which wasn’t very quiet considering the size of his apartment. it’s seb who’s dragged him away from the heart of the party.

“what’s all this about?” seb asks him, still having to slightly shout over the music.

“nothing! just wanted to throw a fun party before exams start. to relax a little, you know?” seb looks at daniel with an unimpressed glare.

“sure, you can lie to yourself, but i’ll always see through you.” quite the drama queen he is. daniel’s not dying or anything.

“stop acting like a mother hen seb!” but he spares no mind.

“i’ll stop when you tell me what’s wrong.” daniel’s given up at this point. nothing gets past this man.

“fine! it’s nothing bad, just completely destroyed my chances with this one guy in my class. he was so hot too.” daniel’s cheeks light up just thinking about him. the little smile he gave. his beautiful brown hair, his magical eyes and-

“-ello. hello?? earth to daniel??” seb’s waving his hand in front of daniels face.

“sorry, zoned out for a moment. what did you say?” he’s gonna need another drink after this.

“i said if it’s meant to be, you’ll find yourself in a situation with him again. if it’s not, you’ll find someone else.” sebastian being ever the wise one is nothing new to daniel. he’s been the advice giver of the friend bunch ever since they met.

“yeah, yeah, thanks old man. i’m real lucky to have you as a friend, you know?” this turned sentimental real fast.

“cmon, no need to get so sappy. i appreciate you too, daniel.” they fall into a comfortable silence for a minute.

“okay, fuck this i want another drink!” daniel’s first to break the tranquility they found themselves in.

“oh, me too. i did come here to party after all.” seb lets out a laugh and they go to the makeshift bar in the kitchen to make some jack and coke.

the rest of the night passes in a blur of shitty edm songs, drunken dance battles and laughter.

daniel is never doing that again. his head is pounding and he can vaguely feel that he’s sleeping on his couch. he slowly open his eyes, waiting for his vision to adjust to the light, before taking in the state of the apartment. empty soda cans absolutely everywhere, kitchen trashed and unfamiliar clothes lying around the floor. daniel’s only just realised he’s in his boxers. what the fuck happened yesterday?!

it takes daniel a concerning amount of times to get off of the couch to go and assess the state of the rest of the apartment. by the time he reaches his bedroom he feels like he’s about to pass out again. thankfully, no one left any unpleasant surprises of vomit for him. 

he sees max in his bed, but can’t bring himself to care and goes to lie down next to him. they’ve known each other for so long, that neither of them really care about sharing personal space with one another. just before daniel’s about to lay down on the bed, his doorbell rings. 

“fuck. me.”

he’d completely forgotten he was supposed to receive a package today. he contemplates on what do to, but ultimately decides to get the damn thing. daniel’s probably never gonna see the guy at the door again anyways.

by the time he’s reached the door, daniel wonders if the delivery guy’s still there. with slow movements, he pushes the door handle down and the door open. 

daniel barely registers who’s in front of him. it’s sergio. it’s fucking sergio! life is amazing, isn’t it?

he takes a pause before scanning over daniel. then he notices it.

“i guess i have a package for you too.” sergio blurts out.

daniel looks down at his wonderful pizza boxers. 

…..

he has morning wood. 

his luck is fucking impeccable.

Chapter Text

“oh, shit. i didn’t notice i’m so sorry i-“ daniel’s quickly trying to find something to cover himself up with but sergio cuts him off.

“don’t worry, happens to the best of us.” he chuckles awkwardly.  “i shouldn’t have said that. probably made this extra embarrassing for both of us…” now they’re stuck in an awkward silence. until daniel remembers why sergio was even in front of him.

“um, my delivery?” he quietly reminds.

“oh, yes! sorry, take it.” sergio then pulls out a pen and some paper. “you just need to sign here and here.”

daniel takes the pen and paper and proceeds to sign the thing. he doesn’t catch sergio glancing at his form multiple times.

“here you go!” daniel gives back the paper and pen and flashes a quick smile. sergio peers into the apartment.

“i’m guessing you had quite the night yesterday.” that’s a bit of an understatement.

“haha, yeah. i’m not even quite sure what happened by the end of it” daniel chuckles a bit. 

“…”

“…”

and the awkward silence is back.

“well, i have other deliveries to get to. see you in class tomorrow?” sergio’s first to break the silence this time.

“oh, yeah, of course! see you tomorrow.” he gives a small smile and so does sergio. 

by the time daniel closes the door, his cheeks are bright red with blush and embarrassment. little does he know, sergios are quite the same.

“who was that?” max yells coming into the living room while muttering to himself about what a mess it was.

“you have morning wood by the way.” max so delightfully adds.

“i am very aware. sergio pointed it out to me a few moments ago.” daniels cheeks glow even redder.

“shit, that was sergio at the door? he saw you and your little friend in a pair of some pizza boxers? haha, this is fucking hilarious!” max said, not trying very hard to hide his laughter. 

“max, stop laughing! this is so embarrassing!” daniel exclaims all the while hiding his face in his hands.

“no way, i’m never letting you live this down. you open the door to your crush only for him to point out your morning tent. what was he even doing here?” max heads towards the kitchen to get them started on some much needed coffee.

“he was delivering a package for me. turns out sergio’s a part-time delivery driver!” daniel exclaims mockingly in an effort to hide his embarrassment. “wait, how do you even know i have a crush on him?”

“well, you weren’t exactly subtle with your comments about him yesterday.” max smiles to himself as he pours hot water into their mugs.

“fuck, what did i say?!” daniel is suddenly panicking. there were some people from his university there. what if they heard what he said? what if they’d tell sergio? what i-

“daniel, i can hear your thoughts from here. don’t worry, it wasn’t anything graphic. plus you were only talking to me and seb. it was pretty cute to be honest, the way you looked when you were talking about him.” max calmly tells him and passes him his coffee. daniel thanks him.

“thank god, but it doesn’t matter to be honest. i have no chances left with him and i think today has solidified that.” daniel deflates and goes to sit on the couch. max has disappeared somewhere but quickly returns with a shirt for daniel that he throws to him. daniel catches it with ease and puts it on.

“i wouldn’t say that y’know. yes, these few… what should i call them, occurrences, have been unfortunate but neither of them were really in your control and i think sergio knows that. plus you’ll never really know if he likes you back unless you shoot your shot.” max sits next to him and takes a sip of his coffee

“you’re quite the wise one this morning mr. 5 failed relationships in the past year.” daniel turns to him and gives a light hearted smirk.

“oh, shut the hell up!” max gives a playful punch to daniels arm. “at least i’m trying unlike someone else i know.”

“yeah, yeah whatever.” daniel rolls his eyes jokingly. 

“okay, enough with this. put on some netflix, i’m bored” max changes the subject rather quickly. they aren’t really the type of friends to get all sentimental with eachother, so this has been a bit much for both of them.

“alrighty, but we are watching breaking bad” daniel says, as he grabs the remote.

“ugh, daniel no! we’ve rewatched that show like 40 times, i wanna watch something else.” max groans and complains.

“too bad, you’re gonna have to deal with it.” he already has the show picked out and is moments away from putting it on.

“this is the last time daniel. last time i’m letting you make us watch this!.” max exclaims raising his finger to further drive home his point.

“yeah, that’s what you always say.” daniel smiles.

the next morning rolls around and, surprisingly, daniel wakes up early enough to have a calm morning. well, relatively calm, as he’s currently shitting his pants in anxiety about seeing sergio again. he’s genuinely surprised sergio didn’t just turn around and leave or anything like that. he was being… nice to him, despite the unfortunate situation they both found themselves in. daniels cheeks blush like crazy thinking of him. he can’t help it! sergio is hot as hell.

daniel’s just about finished his coffee by the time he has to leave. he gets his apartment keys and throws his bag over his shoulder. he’s planning something big, something mega for today. 

last night, after the conversation with max and subsequently max falling asleep on his shoulder while watching breaking bad, daniel started thinking about what max had told him. and of course max is right, he won’t know unless he asks, but he’s just so nervous about it going horribly wrong. what if sergio is actually disgusted by him and makes that clear? what if he says yes but stands daniel up at the last moment? the amount of what if’s make daniel second guess his decision, but no. he has to do this. he will do this.

daniel will ask sergio out today.

by the time daniel’s reached the doors to the lecture hall, he can feel his heart jumping out his chest. he takes a big breath and opens the doors. daniel scans over the lecture hall to find sergio and proceeds to walk to him when he does. they exchange quiet greetings to each other and daniel sits down right next to him. they then sit in silence while waiting for the lesson to start, both of them being too nervous to start a conversation. mr. wolff comes in, apologising for being late, and proceeds to start the lesson. it passes pretty uneventfully and daniel’s spent pretty much the entirety of it planning what he’ll say to sergio and how he’ll say it.

soon enough toto excuses them and both sergio and daniel stand up. they walk to the door together and daniel feels like his heart is going to explode. he’s only known him for like 4 days. what is going on?!

when they both walk out the door, daniel finally gets the courage to ask him.

“hey, sergio, i actually wanted to ask you something.” daniel shuffles nervously as sergio brings all of his attention to him.

“yeah, what’s up?” he looks at daniel, giving a slight smile.

“well, uh, i was wondering if…” daniel stops to take a deep breath in. he feels like he’s about to pass out. sergio’s patiently waiting for him.

“i was wondering if you’d like to go on a date with me?”

Chapter Text

“uh, yes actually.” 

now daniel was most certainly not expecting this answer. he just stands there with his mouth slightly agape.

sergio blushes profusely. he looks like a tomato. “i was gonna ask you, but i felt like i’d ruined my chances with that whole delivery thing.”

“oh my god, oh my god, no, don’t worry!” daniel chuckles in disbelief. “i thought i ruined MY chances with everything that happened!”

they stare at each other for a bit. a bit gay if you ask me.

“right! so, um, where would you wanna go?” daniel finally snaps out of his trance and asks.

“i know this small coffee shop around the corner if you’d be okay with that?” sergio smiles at him uncertainly. 

that. damn. smile. was gonna be the end of daniel.

“yeah! of course, small coffee shops are top tier date spots, haha.” daniel still can’t quite believe this is happening. “so then, um, what time would work for you? i’m free this saturday.”

“yeah, that works for me too. sometime around 11am?”

“yup! that’s fine with me.”

“…”

“…”

awkward silence is sort of their thing now at this point.

“alright then, i’ll see you on saturday then?” sergio disturbs the silence. he’s still blushing. 

“yeah! see you then!” daniel feels his cheeks glowing even redder and his hands sweating even harder.

they stare at each other a bit again, and eventually exchange small goodbyes.

they go in opposite directions and the moment daniel’s out of earshot, he calls max.

it beeps once, twice.

“hello? what do you want.” max being as annoyed as ever.

“max. max. max. max, holy shit. max, i did it!!” daniel is nowhere near able to contain his excitement.

“what? what did you do? i’m lost.” max replies, showing more interest.

“i asked him out. i fucking did it! and he said yes! he said yes max!!!”

max was fully engaged now. “no way, you actually did it???? you took my advice for once and look how it paid off.”

“i’m the one who made the final decision!” daniel scoffed playfully.

“yeah, yeah. but mate i’m so happy for you. when are you guys going out?”

“on saturday, at the small cafe round the corner of the university.” max can feel daniels excitement through the phone.

“now,” daniel continues “what about a celebratory party?” he smirks to himself.

“another party? this soon? i don’t think seb will be too appreciative of you ruining his liver.” max advises

“it’s his choice if he wants to come or not.” daniel rolls his eyes.

“alright then, i’m in. i’ll call up lando.” max says already getting up from his seated position.

“hell yeah, you’re the best max. see you tonight!” daniel ends the call. he can’t control the smile he has right now.

i'm so done with this pining. max thought to himself. time to take matters into his own hands.

max is planning on inviting a special guest tonight.

Chapter Text

max knows he’s sort of being an asshole to daniel for doing this, but he can’t help it! daniel’s pining has been annoying him for the better part of a week and he just wants him to finally get over himself and get into sergio’s pants. well maybe that’s a bit too graphic but you get his point. and, yes, he knows they’re going on a date this weekend, but he simply just cannot wait that long.

so max has taken matters into his own hands. he recently got sergio’s number off of a friend (with benefits) that shares a dorm with sergio, and now he was going to use it to his advantage. 

max punches in the number, presses call and waits for it to ring. it doesn’t take long for sergio to pick up the phone with a confused “hello?”

max clears his throat “is this sergio?”

“uh, yes, who am i speaking with?”

“alright, hi! not sure if you know me, i’m max, daniel’s best friend and roommate (he technically doesn’t live with him but he’s at his house so often that he might as well) and i was just wondering if you’d like to come to a party were hosting tonight? at 9PM?”

there’s silence on the other line. max thinks sergio’s hung up for a second.

“um, thank you for the invite, but i’m not sure… i don’t exactly know you or if you’re trustworthy.” sergio awkwardly explains.

a predictable answer but max isn’t giving up that easy.

“oh, yeah, totally, i get that, don’t worry! you could ask charles (sergio’s roommate, max’s… we’re not getting into that), he’s invited too. he’ll tell you it’s legit. i just really want you here, haha.”

“well then, i’m flattered, although, surprised. did daniel ask you to invite me?” sergio is confused as ever. if daniel wanted to invite him he could have just texted him.

“no, no, all me, just trying to get as many people as possible you know? the more, the merrier and all that.” max innocently explains, keeping his true intentions as hidden as possible.

“yeah. yeah, i guess. i’ll think about it and text you my answer in a bit.” sergio sighs, he can’t decide if he’s in a party mood today (it would give sergio a chance to see daniel tho, he can’t just ignore that)

“okay, great! hope to see you there, and tell charles i say hi!” 

“alright, will do. nice to meet you by the way.”

“you too, man, you too.” max hangs up and prays to whatever god or goddess up there that sergio says yes.

sergio said yes.

max thinks he’s going to explode from excitement. his masterplan is in effect and all that’s left to do is to wait for the party, which max can hardly do.

he goes to daniel’s place to help set up for the party. max is all giddy and unable to keep his smile to himself, and daniel takes notice to that.

“what’s gotten you all smiley? is it that charles guy?” daniel smirks at max.

max chooses to ignore that comment.

“nothing, nothing! just excited for the party is all, last one before exam season right?” max explains with an innocent tone.

“yeah… sure…” 

daniel is still suspicious, but decides to let it go, figuring it’s just max being max.

finally, 8:50PM rolls around and people slowly start pouring into daniel’s apartment. he recognises most of the faces, although some are new. he goes around making sure everyone’s settled in and having a good time before getting a drink himself and walking up to max.

“is charles showing up tonight?” daniel raises his eyebrows playfully.

“and what if he is? what’s so wrong with inviting one of my friends over?” max shoots a glare at daniel.

“nothing, nothing, just that i feel like he’s more than a friend to you… perhaps someone you’ve developed romantic feelings for…?” daniel smirks, and max resists the urge to slap the smile off of his face, even tho he knows he’s right.

before max can retaliate, something, or rather someone, catches his eye. he’s here. time to start the final act of the plan.

“hey daniel, i think you should look at who just came in.” max nudges his head towards the front door.

daniel makes a confused noise and turns his head.

what.

the.

HELL.

there is no way sergio is walking through his door right now. he is not ready for this.

“hey, daniel!” 

daniel’s about to faint.