Work Text:
Okayyy so umm second oneshot.
***
Jack starts his shift, tired of all these boring days he has to endure. He just wants an “end” button for every day.
The store entering bell rings, as the door swings open.
He says very tired and annoyed, “Welcome to our-....” He looks into the man's eyes, and the man smiles at him. Warm, comforting.
He suddenly feels at ease, and stops slouching in his chair.
“W-welcome to our small business. D-do you want a tour?” He wanted to do anything he could to get closer to this man.
“Sure. Name's Oscar.”
“Oscar. Hmm.” Jack thinks.
He then gets out of his mind.
“O-oh! Mine's Jack!” He says, stuttering and getting out of his plastic, uncomfortable chair where he's been sitting for the past 2 hours.
Oscar chuckles, a sweet noise that makes Jack shiver.
“I… uhh… here's the drink section, and here's the bread section…” Jacks talks on and on, and looks at Oscar finally. Oscar looks the other way, scratching his neck nervously. “Mhm. I got that.”
This whole time he didn't notice Oscar was just saying ‘Mhm.’ after every sentence, and was just staring at him the whole time.
“So… um… that's the tour.”
“Thanks for guiding me around, Jack.” He then looks at Jack's eyes, then his lips.
Jack's face burns up.
“I… Uh… thanks for coming.”
He gets to and sits down on his chair behind the desk, the plastic already hurting his back.
“Okay, Jack. Bye.”
“Bye!”
He screams internally. ‘DID I SOUND TOO DESPERATE?’ ‘UGHHH WHAT IF HE NEVER COMES BACK?’ ‘WHAT DID HE THINK OF ME?!’
He just wants the day to end, to just teleport onto his couch and watch some Doctor Who.
But no. He can't.
He's got a life, job, and bills.
And debt. Of course. We can't forget about that.
***
The day stretches on, filled with non- interested customers and rain. Lots of it.
“Ugh.. Why can't this day just end? It's raining too. And I don't have an umbrella.”
He looks at the small clock on the wall, and sees it's 7 minutes until 7PM. He should close up shop. He walks out of his chair, and to the front of the shop.
He flips the ‘Open' sign to ‘Closed' and sighs, feeling a little happier since the day is finally over.
8 hours of mind-numbingly boring work.
“At least the day is over. But… I don't have an umbrella.”
He huffs, and tries to get on with it.
“Ugh, I'll just wait outside under the shelter until it goes away.”
He swings open the door, the bell making the one sound he despises, and walks out towards the rain. He's lucky he has a shelter, so he stands under that and waits.
After 10 minutes, he checks his watch. It's only gotten worse.
“Damn British weather,” he says under his breath. “You could've picked any other time to start raining.”
He hears shuffling beside him.
“Hel...” He goes quiet. There stands Oscar, a sweet smile on his face, ushering him under his umbrella.
“I.. Uh.. Have an umbrella. Do you… wanna go under it with me?” He giggled at the way Oscar was forming sentences, and how anxious he seemed.
“I… Yeah… thanks, Oscar.”
“You're welcome…” This whole time Oscar didn't look at his face, just staring away into the distance, trying to hide his flushed face.
“So, Oscar, what do you do for work?”
“I… run a YouTube channel.”
“What's it called?” Jack asks.
“Zi8gzag.”
“I've heard of you! Don't you do Geoguessr videos?!”
“Yeah.. I do. How do you know what that is?”
“I… um…” He really doesn't want to admit he snapped a photo of Oscar earlier and used Google Lens. “I've.. Heard of you somewhere.”
“Where?” He could tell Oscar was getting more comfortable, because he stopped staring into the distance, and was now looking at Jack's face.
“On.. YouTube recommendations.”
“Oh, okay. Nice.”
The wind is now picking up, and a piece of fabric with the word “Big” on it goes flying into the night sky.
“Big, interesting.” Oscar says.
“Yeah, interesting.” He was about to say just the same.
The rain picks up, and Jack shuffles close to Oscar.
“I-I’m cold.” He tries to make an excuse for him getting closer to Oscar.
Before he can realise it's even happening, Oscar takes his jacket off and places it around Jack's shoulders. “There. Are you warmer?”
His face definitely is very warm, but more so from blushing. “Yes.. I am. Thank you.”
Oscar smiles in his direction, and gazes at the stars. Jack notes he looks extra beautiful in the moonlight.
“The stars are out tonight, aren't they?”
Jack snaps out of his mind.
“Yes, they are. The moon is beautiful tonight.”
Just like you. He wants to say it, but can't. He'll only ruin this friendship, right? Right?
He tries to tell himself he can't tell Oscar.
That only works for a little while.
The next day he wakes up. In his own apartment, in his own bed, thank God. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he ended up in Oscar's.
He takes out a cup from the cupboard, and pours himself some tea. He needs that little burst of energy at the start of the day, to keep himself going.
He yawns, knowing full well he only got 3 hours of sleep, dreaming about Oscar.
He actually put effort into his outfit today, hoping that Oscar would come back again.
He put on a grey hoodie that was actually nice, some baggy navy jeans and put some nice perfume on.
He can't believe he did all this from Oscar, but he really did feel proud and hoped Oscar would notice.
He hopped on the small bus, making sure he got out at the right stop. “Cheers bud.” He said, as he was on the steps out.
He stepped onto the bustling street, hearing the bus speed ahead, away from him.
Walking a short distance to his shop, he flipped his key around in his hand and opened the door, feeling a little more happy today than he was yesterday to start the day. He had something to look forward to.
The day was slow, until Oscar showed up.
“Hey, Oscar. Nice day, isn't it?”
“Yeah it is. A lot different compared to yesterday, huh.”
“Mhm. It's really quite sunny today, almost beautiful.” Like you. He wanted to say it again.
“Indeed it is.” Oscar walks over time the counter, and whispers in Jack's ear.
“I've got somewhere to show you, Jacky.”
“J-Jacky? What?” Jack's face turns a deep red.
“It just... rolls of the tongue. And it fits you well.” Oscar's eyes darted to Jack's lips just like he did yesterday. He wants to lean in and devour him. But he can't. Yet.
“It… does? Thank you.”
“You are welcome. Also, do you have anything new in stock?”
“Nah, nothing new.” Jack sighed.
“Oh darn. When will your shift be done?”
“In 1 hour? Why?”
“So I can wait for you, duh.” Oscar says.
“Oh yeah. That thing.”
“Uh huh. I'll wait for you then. Bye.”
“Bye.”
The door shuts, the bell ringing like it always does.
“I wonder what the thing is. Hopefully it's nice!”
Jack waits the whole hour, nobody even coming in. At 7PM, he finally closes the shop.
“Hey.” Jack says to Oscar, leaning against the brick wall on the outside of the shop.
“Oh! Hey.”
“So. Where were you gonna take me?”
“It's not too far from here. Come.” Oscar moves his hand to sign for Jack to come.
“'Kay.”
They walk down the deserted road, and into the hills laying beside the shops.
It is quickly getting late, and the sun is setting already, the stars becoming more visible.
They trudge through the dark valley, Oscar walking ahead. They finally reach flat land and the top of the hill, the sun setting in front of them, shining on the lake.
The sky is painted with pretty pinks, and bright oranges.
“Why did you take me up here?” Jack asks.
Oscar chuckles. “Mostly for the view. But also I wanted to tell you something, Jack.”
“What is it?” Jack says softly.
“I…” Oscar sighs. “I've had a massive crush on you the whole time. And I'm sorry if this is cliche, and-”
Jack takes Oscar's face into his hands, and cups his chin.
“Me too, Oscar.”
Jack leans in, and presses his lips against Oscar's slowly. He starts to pull away, as Oscar didn't do anything back, but before long, they were both kissing each other, the sun setting in front of them.
It was beautiful. It was perfect.
It was what they both had always wanted.