hot chocolate and thrift shopping

december 2 - mini christmas trees

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖌𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗'𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊

*͛ ͙͛ ⁑͛⋆͛*

foolish pushes through the door into the dark building, pulling his two layered coats up higher over his shoulders to shield himself from the cold. all the lights are still off, yet he knows he isn't the first one here because the door is unlocked, and he can hear the heater running out back.

as he steps further into the room, foolish sees his co-worker sitting behind the counter, the light from his phone screen illuminating his face as he smiles down at something.

foolish runs his gloved fingers through his long hair, praying that it still looks presentable despite the heavy wind outside. he clears his throat, "good morning."

the blonde doesn't look up from his phone as he replies, "hey."

foolish continues past him, heading back into the staff restricted area and beelining over to his locker. he pulls it open, taking out his apron and hanging it over the metal door before pulling both of his coats and his gloves off and shoving them into the small space. he forces his bag in after it before taking the apron and tying it tightly around his hips.

foolish makes his way over to the bathrooms.

he looks at himself in the mirror and, for once, he's actually thankful that punz didn't look at him. it's safe to say that the gloves did not help in fixing his hair. in fact, they just made it look all ruffled up and poofy in the middle.

foolish brushes his cold fingers through his hair to tame it, flattening it down and pushing some of the long bits behind his ears. afterwards, he holds his hands under the hair dryers to warm them up and then quickly blows his nose before heading back out to the staff area.

he checks his locker is shut properly once more. now, he can hear that punz has put on the christmas music, as the words of last christmas float quietly through the building.

foolish goes back out to the main room to see that punz is no longer on his phone, and he presumes that it is tucked safely away in the front pocket of his apron. the main room lights are on now, as well as the christmas lights in the window and on the counter, and all the food and drinks machines are lit up too.

punz is stood by the sink, filling up the water tanks that they put into the back of the coffee machines.

foolish, not knowing what else to do, opts to clean the counters. he takes the surface cleaner from the side, spraying it a few times before taking hold of the cloth and dragging it over the already-clean area.

foolish glances over at punz, who seems to be daydreaming as he stares off at nothing, the tap beside him running continuously into the large tank.

foolish looks back at the counter before him, biting his lip as he takes a deep breath. "so," he starts, "how was your day yesterday?" he asks, looking back over at the blond.

punz looks up with a small hum, reaching behind him to turn off the tap. "sorry, what did you say?" he asks.

foolish wants to shoot himself in the face. of course punz didn't hear him.