✎ paul dano - imagines シ

down days - brian <3

the last thing I wanted this morning was to see the grimy, squeaking doors of Mickey's, with them lazily dragging along with each person that trudged their way inside, expressions full of misanthropy and boredom with their mouths seemingly sculpted into these sort-of permanent scowls.. I couldn't even judge them, oh no, I was the exact same, as if I had jumped onto this pissy, miserable bandwagon they had going on. I'm sure I had all the right to be miserable though, I'd just been broken up with for gods sakes! I deserve a moment to bring others down! ..but alas, my shift must go on, though I'd rather be moping in my bed rather than stood in a stuffy kitchen, flipping patty's with two doofuses. my hands had roughly jolted forward to push the door open with an aggressive force, a fiery glint in my eye that really seemed to capture every drop of emotion I was feeling... I looked /pissed/.

Amber was doing the usual, standing all lively at the counter with a beaming smile, a smile that easily lit up the dull atmosphere that is, and as soon as she saw me? well, that smile faltered slightly, and it turned more sad-looking as she tilted her head in a somewhat curious manner, "morning, y/n.. what's wrong?" ..aw Amber.. if only I wasn't in an assy mood, I /totally/ would've been a lot nicer if so, "I'm fine." was the blunt answer that solemnly left my lips, and with that? I was off, sadly shuffling my way into the kitchen area, noticing it was a /lot/ quieter than usual... my eyes scanned the room briefly, with them eventually meeting only one pair of familiar ones.. "hey." ah yes.. Brian. such a happy soul, right? with the face of a blank canvas as he almost robotically flipped the cheap, processed burgers on the grill. "morning, Bri," my words came out as more of a sigh, as I allowed my satchel to slide off of my shoulder and onto the greasy floor, before my shoes dragged me over to the burger-prep station, "where's Andrew?" the question was enough to have him turn back to me, with his glum, chartreuse orbs practically burning into my soul as he stared, "fucker took the day off, pretending he's sick." the taller one took a moment to build one of the burgers, leaving his usual blob of spit in the middle, squashing it against the other contents with the freshly toasted bun before gently tossing the box on the shelf, awaiting Amber to pick it up before leaning on the counter next to me, "I've been stood here doing jackshit for almost two hours." ..I really wasn't in the mood for sympathy, if anything? I put on a fake pout, with nothing behind the eyes, "you poor thing, are you sure you're surviving?" it was safe to say my little comment didn't go unnoticed, because soon enough a glare was quite swiftly sent my way, "why're you being an ass this morning? 'someone spit in your cheerios?"

granted, the comment made a frustrated huff leave my lips, with my hand reaching up to pinch gently at the bridge of my nose with an inaudible grumble, and eventually I had mustered up some sort of willpower to respond, "breakup." ..Brian had attempted to offer some sort of sympathetic look, with a slight raise of his brow before awkwardly scratching at the back of his neck, "ah.. that sucks," the brunette had then taken a moment before shifting slightly closer, "anything I could do to help?" wow. smooth. the small smirk was soon wiped off of his face when he had realised my lack of reaction, turning his emotionless face back to the slowly burning patties on the grill... he was sweet, I guess. he just— didn't seem like a romantic type. like, cmon! this guy spits in burgers and plans robberies all day, there's no way he could be all lovey-dovey in /any/ way shape or form! ..it honestly left me in a strange train of thought, slipping into a small daze as I had began to think of Brian, which felt hella weird and sappy to admit... don't get me wrong, he's handsome, y'know? I loved how those emerald green eyes coruscated so nicely under the kitchen's old, yet phosphorescent lights with a slight shimmer to them when at the right angle, and how his small lips would sometimes upturn into a charming smile whenever me or Andrew made some sort of remark.. every strand of those dark, brunette locks looked awfully soft, and sometimes they would flow so gently in the warm breeze whenever we went outside to empty the trash cans, sometimes he would even laugh, and my god.. it was pleasure to my ears, for such a brash, lazy guy, he had such a soft, innocent chuckle that was enough to have me swooning sometimes... oh hell, I shouldn't even be /thinking/ of him, I've only just gotten out of a relationship and I'm daydreaming about my coworker... my coworker that's—

ah. I seemed to be quite swiftly snapped out of my complete trance when sounds of fingers snapping and clicking together filled my ears, and my somewhat fuzzy gaze soon cleared up to see Brian's concerned gaze meeting my blank one.. "you feelin' good?" he had asked me with faintly raised brows, "your eyes were literally staring /deep/ into my conscious." ..I couldn't help but chuckle softly, shaking my head as I forced myself to turn away, sensing my cheeks slowly starting to go rosy.. "s-sorry I uh.. don't know what happened. just a trance." I attempted to keep my voice as blunt as possible, my lips in an ever so slight frown, enough to feel a pair of warm, clammy thumbs cup my face, which slowly pushed my cheeks up in an attempt to form a smile.. since when did this fucker become so dorky? and why the /fuck/ is he making me blush?
I had shot a glacial glare his way, though I couldn't bring myself to slap his hands away since they actually felt quite snug on my face, "you're asking to get slapped." I warned, which obviously wasn't enough to convince him. instead, he began to let out that sweet fuckin' chuckle.. "you love it, you're just being a sourpuss." Brian had then taken a swift step closer, to the point where he could most likely feel every ounce of heat that was radiating off of my body at that moment, "are you gonna keep being grumpy? or are you gonna let me take you out to lunch after this shift?"

the request had definitely caught me off guard, cause my eyes had widened and I seemed to have almost melted into Brian's touch.. god, I couldn't even stay mad. I know I had been dumped literally a day ago, but I'm allowed to move on, right? he might not even /mean/ it in a 'date' way! he could just be trying to be friendly! .."lunch would be nice, I guess.." I looked down in a sheepish manner, my cheeks practically feeling like an inferno from the rapid blushing... soon I felt one of his hands slide down to my chin, gently lifting my face back up for his eyes to meet mine, "it's a date, lets go." ..you're kidding? my heart felt like it had melted as I tilted my head in bewilderment, my facial expression /screaming/ 'what?' as I scoffed, attempting to mask the sheepish state, "I've just arrived here? we can't just go on a date right now?" I had earned a roll of his eyes from this as I continued on, "as much as this job brings me misery on all levels, I'd rather keep it so I actually have money in my pockets." another chuckle was emitted from Brian's slightly plushy lips, his hands falling from my face and down to his sides, slowly sliding them into his pockets as his posture turned a bit more slumped, "it's literally me, you and Amber here, and Amber doesn't give a flying fuck what we do," he began, "I'm sure she won't mind making a burger or two whilst we go out, we'll be like— 30 minutes tops.. cmon... it'd be fun! we could like,, get slushies n' listen to music n' stuff.. I swear it'll be good!"

something about his look was really coaxing me.. as if this bastard was putting on damn puppy-dog eyes for me.. and if he was? they were working, and it was something that was shameful to admit even in my head. "..fine, you win, cmon.." with that, my hand had reached down, searching for his as our fingers had slowly intertwined. "that's the spirit." Brian had mumbled quite softly towards me, leaning down before hesitantly pressing a small kiss into my forehead, the cushiony feeling of his lips making me instinctively smile in a fairly shy manner.. he had told Amber where we were going, in which she actually seemed pretty ok with it, much to our pleasure. she even sent a giddy smile my way, offering me a thumbs up as I gave her a small smile in return, before I was soon enough dragged along and out of the fast food chain's back door...

maybe he's more romantic than I assumed...