CAMBOY | PHAN AU

Baby Steps

happy birthday camboy !!

The morning was as cold as the coffee on Dan's desk. I tapped it's murky surface with a spoon on the side to break the thickening skin and watched the new gap grow, shuddering slightly. He still was having those restless nights where he just worked until dawn and finally falls asleep at his desk.

He had given me a new schedule so I actually knew when to come into work instead of just always trying to be ready in case Chris texted me to come in and every morning when I came in he never let me in his office as he was snoozing at his desk, face flat. So one morning I decided to let myself in, risking him waking up to shout at me.

I crept in quietly, only letting a small noise out from the door and there he was asleep, face flat and nose pressed to the table. One hand with a pencil in and the other some scrunched up material. The whole desk was covered in various pretty fabrics and his phone still playing the sounds of Coldplay and then that cold mug of coffee.

Carefully, I lifted the pencil from his hand, his finger twitching slightly before laying flat, then paused his music and noticed the very low phone percentage. I looked around for a plug socket and on the wall behind his desk was one with the charger in so I popped it on charge so he had it for the work day. Cleaned up the fabrics, sorting them into a pile and picked up that pretty disgusting mug of coffee and left his office.

Down the stairs I went only to see PJ talking to that girl he had been staring at during the meeting, they were really engrossed in conversation so I didn't bother saying hello, I just went past with that gross mug in hand. Past the main desk where Chris was busily taking phone calls to help the newbie who seemed unable to answer a phone and through to the office break room which was pretty much empty.

Over to the sink, I poured out the murky coffee and ran the tap around the mug a few times before going over to the espresso machine to make a new mug of coffee for Dan.

Back I went, past stressy Chris, past flirting PJ and back up to sleeping Dan Howell.

He hadn't moved an inch since leaving so I placed the mug back where I found it and opened the large curtains, revealing the bright city landscape. Dan started to stir a little at the light and when I looked over at him, his eyes were open but very sleepy. I went over to the corner of the room to grab the armchair I usually sat in, dragging it across the rug and placed it opposite Dan's desk then sat.

Drowsily his head was lifted and thick grey rims circled his brown bloodshot eyes, he needed to get some real sleep in an actual bed that wasn't Graceffa's. He looked over his desk quietly. ''Good morning, I got you some-''

''Wh-Who let you in?'' He murmured rubbing his eyes.

I shuffled awkwardly in the chair, but he seemed too sleepy to care about me just coming in without his permission. ''Oh, er, I let myself in if that's okay?''

His eyes began to wander again, he turned around a few times, looking around the room. ''Where's my phone?''

''It's charging, I thought you might need it for the work day. Sorry I guess I should-''

''Is that coffee fresh?'' Dan yawned noisily, grabbing the little handle of the mug and dragged it closer.

I sighed, ''Yes it is, that's what I was saying, but you interrupted me.''

He just looked me over, sipping at his coffee before getting up and crouching down to the plug socket to check his percentage. It had only been on charge for around 10 minutes. Dan sat back down, pulling out a large black folder from his draw and pushed it over to me quietly, it was labelled ''Phil'' in very scruffy writing.