twelve days of christmas

11 days - peace and the contrary

𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖌𝖊𝖗 𝖜𝖆𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖎𝖓 𝖔𝖕𝖊𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖆𝖚𝖙𝖍𝖔𝖗'𝖘 𝖓𝖔𝖙𝖊

*͛ ͙͛ ⁑͛⋆͛*

foolish glances back over his shoulder at the well-recognisable sound of the café bell ringing upon the front door opening. he is standing far across the room, wiping down used tables from the earlier lunch rush and freshening the room up for the next shift to take over. when he sees niki and sam stepping in, laughing about something together, he only offers them a distant smile.

foolish looks back at the table he is working on, a newfound vigour in his movements now he knows his shift is practically over. he only has to wait for the other pair to throw on aprons and come back out front and then he's done for the day, free to go and get on with his life.

foolish picks the small christmas-tree-like plant up from the centre of the table so he can wipe under it, smiling to himself as he does. when foolish and karl had come into work on december 1st and saw the new decorations, they had practically broken from excitement, the reminder of the start of their friendship surrounding them once more.

foolish steps away from the table after straightening up the pamphlet shoved into the menu stand. it's an advertisement for the annual christmas sale at dream's store, and foolish had been the one to accept them from the blonde's mother a few weeks ago now.

it's odd to consider all the people he knows now, both friends and their families, and how rapidly his circle of people has grown since last year, when he only really had his parents. it's not accurate, because foolish found karl himself, but the brunette likes to thank punz for the way his life has brightened since last christmas.

foolish never stopped homeschooling and, even now, he is enrolled on an online university but that never stopped his group of friends from making him feel wholly and overwhelmingly loved, involved and appreciated. even though they would see each other for eight odd hours at school each day, he still never felt left out.

though, the fact that punz had a different friend group at school, rather than constantly being with dream and his friends, probably made it easier for him to not fear missing out.

foolish returns to the counter, sharing stupid smiles with karl as the other brunette shakes a can of cream. foolish puts the cloth down on the side for his later colleagues to use instead of shoving it straight in the wash and wasting a perfectly clean cloth.

he turns back and watches karl disappear to take a drink out to the café floor somewhere.

working with his best friend was the best decision that ever could've been made. when foolish worked with punz, after they started dating, the brunette used to be so giddy and on edge all shift, wanting to kiss his boyfriend or cave into his strong arms but knowing he couldn't. when punz quit for college and karl applied for the job, immediately getting it after a good few words from foolish, it was all very different. now, work just felt like an excuse to be around his best friend more.

they still got everything done and upheld good work etiquette, but some of the pair's most important conversations happened behind the counter when they were having a particularly dry shift.