Dan Avidan x Reader FanFiction; Vivid

Chapter 4: Everybody hates (loves) Mondays

It was 7am, the grumps wanted me there at 9am, but technically speaking - I am a grump, and I wanted to be there straight away. However, my hair and bags under my eyes rebelled and I showered in a desperate attempt to wake myself up.

Breakfast was big - I had a lot of cereal, yoghurt, fruit - I wanted to be full but not sick, I was scared my nerves would cause nausea yet if I ate too little that my stomach would make noises I wouldn't want anyone to hear - especially them. I decided on the outfit I picked the night before and made sure I had packed my bag, like a child on the first day of school, this then had me wondering if I would be the youngest there - Barry was in his mid-twenties, right?

When I got there at 8:50, I sat in my car for a couple of minutes outside, I exhaled deeply and lowered the volume of my favourite CD, in order to not disturb the local Glendale population. I thought back to our coffee infused conversation on Wednesday - I smiled down in my car seat, remembering how he smiled and even laughed when I attempted a joke, his voice crystal clear and cutting through the background murmur of the place. He was whole - as a person, he mentioned his bands and his friend Brian, he talked of touring and his passions, his whole face radiated with joy - the type earned through longing and desperate motivation. He also mentioned how his apartment was not far from the grump office, sometimes he'd even crash at the office if working insanely late - playing video games into the AM's and becoming a giggling fool.

Fifteen minutes after he first ordered me that caramel shake he left, the conversation was very casual, he seemed reserved though, like he didn't know whether to trust me or not. I shook away this thought and my smile slowly faded, he was probably wondering why he was having run ins with a woman over ten years younger than him, with someone he barely knows, and with someone he'll see around the office at best. Maybe we would become closer, and he'd tell me about the days the music wasn't enough and the times where he didn't radiate joy and the sun didn't shine from him like it does now. Maybe we would never really speak again, and maybe I was overthinking my new colleague.

Still dazed, a loud noise made me jump and my head snap upwards in shock. My hands which were resting gently across the steering wheel fell onto it heavily - releasing a sound shocking me further and making the person next to me laugh harder. I look to my left with wide eyes and shaking hands to see Barry laughing next to me, the smudged hand stains of which I can only believe belong to him, on the window. His hair flopped forwards as he laughed, more gently now, but still clutching his stomach and tears escaping his eyes. As we made eye contact and I realised the scare he had intentionally given me, I rolled down the window - my eyes with him; "I officially resign" I speak, in a deadpan tone of voice, my eyes not breaking away from the blue of his.

His eyes crease at this and a large smile stretches across his face as I begin to roll my window back up again. I grab my bag on the passenger seat and exit the truck, laughing to myself and forgetting any recent doubt - at-least for the moment. As I exit my truck Barry attempts to apologise about shocking me to that extent, this was between fits of heavy breathing caused by raucous laughter as he tried to gather his words. I tell him that it's no problem, but secretly I began to plot my revenge.

As we begin to walk across the street to the grump space, Barry coughs a little and then speaks again; "Can I ask, why, you were - y'know, just sitting in your truck? Are you okay?" as he speaks he turns to me and reads my facial expression, his eyebrows furrowing as he searches for a reaction. I smile a little more, seeing how genuinely concerned he seems I reply; "Oh I was just, well, chilling out for a little while - I was a bit early since I - well, anyway, I probably looked distant as I was just remembering something- sorry I really am fine, must've looked lost..."

He smiles a little more as we continue to walk there but something in his eyes still seemed concerned, and with this concern he tells me "If you ever feel down don't worry, everyone here is very loving and it really is like a family, it'll be your home away from home!". A wide grin now stretches across his joyful face "Well - sometimes it really will act as your home - we tend to crash here on occasion" I nod at him as he continues, but the conversation reaches a lull as we reach the door, to which he opens.