Work Text:
You sighed, finally sitting down to relax for the day. Things have been beyond chaotic, and it seems like you haven't had a chance to breathe in MONTHS! You missed your friends, but with the holidays around the corner everyone had been too busy to do much of anything. While you didn’t have a ton of friends, you had a nice circle with people you were truly close with and loved. One of them may be at his bar right now…
You thought of sending him a text, seeing if he was even working, but decided to show up anyway. It wasn’t far, and you could use a nice break after being up and on your feet all day. You wobbled just slightly, groaning at the sore and stiff muscles that seemed to be all throughout your body. But it was more important to get a mental break than a physical one, as you’d tell yourself.
Picking up your keys, you headed straight to his bar. Walking in, you felt a bit underdressed, not even thinking about getting changed out of your cozy clothes when spontaneously deciding to visit Phantom. Not that he’d care, and you’d sure seen your fair share of people showing up here in all varieties of clothes. Surely wearing an oversized sweatshirt and loose pants combo wasn’t going to get you kicked out.
The thought made you snort in amusement. Like your best friend would let anyone kick you out of his bar. You knew every single employee here, and they all knew you had access to pretty much whatever room you wanted. He always made time for you like that, to bring you to VIP rooms and tend to you directly. It was a peaceful friendship, and it initially felt almost overwhelming that he gave you that much freedom in his establishment.
But after knowing him for multiple years, you knew he wouldn’t do it for just anybody. You were almost like a younger sibling, and you always treated each other as such. So when you walked in, it made sense that he paused making a drink to smile at you. Though for the moment you couldn’t tell if it was a genuinely happy smile, or he was going to playfully tease you for not showing up in a long time.
You saw him glance around, sighing at the lack of employees he had to take over the bar. Instead, he waved you over, and grinned wide. “What brings you here? It’s been what, two months since I got to see you?” He let out a soft laugh. “You picked a good time to visit, it’s been tapering off for a while. Maybe I’ll be able to get a good conversation with you before you disappear for a while again.” His eyes had a slightly mischievous glint in them, and it had you laughing too.
“Oooh you work today? Man, I really should have picked another day to come.” You rolled your eyes, giving him sass back in response to his teasing. “Maybe I should come back when you clock out, and that’s…when exactly?” You pretended to look at your watch that wasn’t there.
It got a genuine laugh out of him, and he set the drink he was preparing in front of the man who ordered it so he could lean on the counter to narrow his eyes at you. “A lot of sarcasm is going on here, and here I thought you’d miss me.” He looked playfully hurt, but rolled his eyes and turned to make another drink with a wide smile.
“Oh, I’ll have-” He turned and flicked your forehead. You blinked in surprise before giving him a stoic expression while muttering, “That’s assault. Imma sue you and make this bar my own.”
His eyes widened slightly before he laughed, giving you a smile after a moment of catching his breath. “Yeah, yeah. I know what you wanna order, you get the same thing every single time.” He sighed, content in the playful moment he was having with someone who was close with him. “You’re gonna give me a bad reputation. What will my employees think if I start laughing like that? They might fear for their jobs.” He chuckled, but turned back to you with a heartwarming smile.
“But seriously, I’m glad you showed up. It’s been a while, and to tell you the truth…” He paused for dramatic effect, “I did actually miss our banter.” He shrugged it off, and got back to making your drink in record time. “What have you been up to? I figured work had been keeping you late when you stopped sending me hourly updates on how boring your shifts were.” He chuckled, and it made you pout.
“They were not hourly…most days…” You trailed off, but sighed. “Yeah…work has been more intense than usual. I feel like I don’t even get my breaks half the time. I’ve been training new hires, so any time I finally sit down to eat I’m being called back out there by a new guy who has no idea what he’s doing yet.” It had you letting out a humorless laugh, but noted Phantom’s frown.
“Do they not have any other trainers?” His brow furrowed, and handed you your drink. It almost made you feel bad to see so much concern in his eyes, and you tried to play it off.
“Not really. Only me as the day trainer and another one for the night shifts. I WISH they’d have more people train because I’ve been working nearly every day. But it’s not that I mind all the time, the bonus I get for being a trainer definitely helps pay the bills.” You laughed softly, but it didn’t seem to ease his worries in the slightest.
He sighed, “I wish you’d work for me. You know the offer is always on the table.” He smiled, and patted your shoulder in a comforting manner. “Whenever you want…the position will always be open for you.” He raised an eyebrow, grinning wide as he watched you groan.
“You know I don’t wanna have to wear those fancy-ass outfits. Look at you!” You gestured to all of him. “You have to wear a damn suit with a vest every single day. You’re a monster if you think I’d be comfortable wearing that outfit all day.” You jabbed playfully, but couldn’t hide the smile working its way onto your face. “And I doubt I’d be able to get much work done while I’m constantly fighting against myself not to make a fool of you every day.” You gave a sigh, but shook your head and gave him a smile instead.
“I know the offer is open. And if things get too bad, I’ll let you know.” You said, and were pleased when he gave a satisfied smile.
“That’s all I ask.” His words were soft, and had you poking his arm. “What was that for?” He huffed, poking your shoulder right back.
“It was a gift, and now you’ve returned it. Very rude of you.” You snickered, only growing louder at his raised eyebrow. “But really, it’s good to see you. I promise I’ll try to stop by more often. I guess I missed you.” You shrugged as if it was no big deal, but you both knew you meant it.
“Yeah, yeah, kiddo. I missed you too. And don’t even-” He held his hand out when you started to reach for your wallet. “-think about paying. I haven’t been able to joke with you for months. I’m not taking a damn penny from you.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and left no room for protests.
As much as you wanted to retort, you were exhausted enough that you waved your hand and said, “fine, fine. But only this once.” You rolled your eyes before smiling at him. In the years of your friendship, he’d never once charged you for a drink. You supposed that was a perk of being friends with the man who owns the bar. “I’ll buy you a drink next time.” You batted your eyelashes at him, and it only left him laughing.
“You know as well as I do that you’re not gonna do that.”
“Yeah no, I’d never.”
After that, you enjoyed a while longer with him, before heading back to crash for the night. From all of the stress finally melting away, you found yourself smiling as you finally laid down to sleep. Or maybe it was simply because you spent a long while with your best friend after so long of being apart…though the more you thought about it, you knew your day would have been worse had you not decided to go see him.
And with that thought, you sent a quick text to him that just read, “thank you.”
Long after you had fallen asleep, a text was sent back to your phone. He knew you’d be sleeping, but smiled knowing you’d see it in the morning.
“You’re welcome kiddo. Stop by again soon.”