Queue Avenue

Purpose

As Dan settled into Queue Avenue, he became very aware of several things about himself. The first that he was probably a little too dependent on the roommate he'd met not even half a year ago. He didn't mind that one as much; Phil was a great guy, and had very quickly become his best friend. He was just as dependent on Dan as Dan was on him, which worked out quite nicely. The second, and more alarming, was that he had no clue what he wanted to do with his life anymore.

Well, it wasn't like he'd had a clue in the first place. He'd really just gone "what makes a lot of money and sort of helps people? law!" and signed up for courses purely because everyone else he knew was doing it, and had pushed himself to go through with it. It hadn't taken him that long to realize that he absolutely hated law, though, which threw him into the biggest of many existential crises yet. It'd been bad, he'd dropped out, but then he'd met Phil and moved in, and everything had seemed to be getting better.

"Seemed" being the operative word, because it hit him full in the face as he woke up one day that he couldn't keep living off the money he'd saved up for the next semester's tuition forever, and that he was going to have to find a job soon. A real job, possibly a permanent job. That'd ruined his mood for the whole day, really, and it'd probably shown in the way Phil was looking at him the whole time.

It was around lunch time when Phil finally unfolded himself from his desk chair and sighed, stretching a bit before he glanced at Dan from where he was sitting on the sofa, trying to numb his mind by scrolling through job advertisements. He walked over and plopped down next to him, rummaging around in his pockets for a moment before his face lit up, and he offered Dan a coin. "Penny for your thoughts?" he said, and that was so stupid and so Phil, Dan couldn't not laugh.

"Oh my god." he said. "It's nothing; nothing worthy of that gag, anyway. I'm just thinking."

"What about?" Phil pressed, obviously ready to play a game of twenty questions if it meant he'd get a straight answer.

"Jobs." Dan said simply, setting his laptop aside. "Or, I guess not just jobs. My purpose."

"Your purpose?" Phil raised an eyebrow.

Dan nodded. "Yeah, like, in life. What am I supposed to be doing? Am I supposed to be helping people, or making balloon animals, or curing cancer, or---" He cut himself off and sighed. Phil smiled at him, and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Dan didn't even bother trying not to melt into his side; there was very little making him happy today, so he'd let himself have this.

"Listen," Phil said. "I'm not a philosophical guy-" Dan snorted at the half pun. "- But, I know that purpose just sort of... finds you. I didn't really know I wanted to start my company, it just came to me one day. Your purpose will find you, or you'll trip over it one day. But rushing it won't do anything but stress you out." He gave a blinding smile, and pressed the penny into Dan's hand. "For good luck." he said before he rose, winking at him in a manner that was almost awkward, but still made Dan's heart flutter. "I'm going down to the lobby to film a bit; the lighting's better down there. See you later?"

"Yeah." Dan said at his already retreating back, looking back down at the penny as the door closed. Squinting at it, he noticed something: it was from the year he was born.

"Holy shit," he said. It's a sign.

---

A/N: A short update, because it's show week and musical is running me ragged. Thanks for all the views, y'all, and it'd be lovely if you could leave a few comments. Either way, I'm about to post a new story- a Phan soul mates AU, titled Crowd Spotting, so if you'd like to check that out, I'd much appreciate it.