open for business//dingdulian

Karaoke! At the Bar

DingDong woke up an hour earlier than his alarm. He wanted to get up and ready for the day, but he realized Julian was still here. He didn't want to wake him up so he carefully slid out of the bed.

He took a shower, brushed his teeth, and slipped on a fresh set of clothes. DD walked out to the kitchen to make some coffee, as he was making it he started singing a Tally Hall song out loud to himself.

Julian got up shortly after, still in his boxers and t-shirt. He began walking down the hall and heard a familiar voice. He realized that it was DD singing. Julian listened in for a while, astonished by how good DD sounded. Julian started to lean in more to hear a tad better, but the creaking coming from the floors caused DD to turn around.

"Oh! Sorry, Julian.. I didn't know you were awake..." DD had a red tint on his face as he looked to the ground.
"It's fine." Julian replied in his deeper voice. He sat down at a table, watching DD pour out the coffee.

"Y'know, you have a really good voice."
"You.. you really think so?"
"Yeah. Maybe we should go do a bit of karaoke sometime..?"
"...I'd like that."

DD grabbed two cups of coffee and passed one to Julian. He checked the time, 6:30...

"Hey, maybe we could go to the bar near here tonight.. I get off work earlier than usual so we could head there, I heard they have karaoke..-"
"Yeah! Did you want me to pick you up?"
"S-sure."

Julian started talking to DD after he took a few sips of coffee, making a stupid coffee pun. It took a few seconds for DD to get it, but after that he let out a huge laugh.

"..Your laugh is so great..." Julian said, but from the coffee mug covering his mouth it made it harder to hear.
"Wha.. what'd you say?"
"Uhh.. this coffee is really g-great!.."
"Oh, thanks.."

The two finished their coffee after a while and Julian grabbed his jacket and pants. He put them on and started walking out with DD to drive him to the coffee shop. As they got there Julian started to talk. "I'll be back tonight, don't forget." He started to drive off.
"Oh, I won't."

• • •

As DD was locking up the place again, he heard the sound of a bike pulling up. He started to clean up a bit faster, and went outside as soon as possible.

"Fancy seeing you here.." He said sarcastically. Julian chuckled. "Well, we did have something planned, didn't we?~"
DD hopped up on the back of Julian's bike, holding onto Julian as a sign that he was ready to go. He drove off through the night, and before they knew it, they were already at the bar. DD and Julian walked in together, sitting down at the stools near a counter.

"Did you want anything to drink?"
"I'll just have what you're having."
DD nodded, turning to the waiter to order. The two grabbed their drinks.

"Thanks, DD.."
"For what?"
"Just.. everything that you've done. From when we first met, you could tolerate me.."
"Of course..."
Julian started to lean in, and so did DD. Right then and there, the music blasted, scaring them both.

After a drink for Julian and DD, they were both equally bored. Julian stood up and stretched out his arm.
"C'mon, lets dance!"
"Haah, I don't dance.."
"Well you sing, don't you?"
"Not exaactly.. were you listening the whole time I was singing to myself?!"
"Lets not worry about that, come on!"

Before DD had the time to respond, Julian dragged him out of his seat and started dancing. He looked around to see that nobody was watching them, they were just having fun.. DD looked to see Julian smiling and laughing. He started dancing along with Julian. DD felt relieved.

• • •

What seemed like 30 minutes passed and the karaoke stage was open. They were obviously the first people to get up there, but now they needed a song to pick.

"How about this one?" Julian pointed to a Panic! song, that DD didn't know. He went along with it and nodded. It wasn't exactly a duet song, but they mad it work.

"You could set yourself on fire...~"

Julian started off singing, a low tone. DD picked it up, singing in a higher tone.

"She said at night in my dreams, you'd dance on a tightrope of weird.."

Before they knew it, a crowd started to form, signing along with them. They skipped around the lyrics.

"All the boys you may have dated serrated your heart with a slice, but the cut of your love never hurt, baby it's a sweet butter knife."

Something about that line DD sang sent butterflies to Julian's stomach. The way DD looked in the lighting, the way that he sang, and how he cared for him, it made Julian realize how much he loved DD. The song went on, the crowd still singing along at some parts. It started to end, the tone dimming down.

"You could set yourself on fire, but you're never gonna learn, learn, lear--"

Julian was stopped from a force on his lips. It was DD. The crowd was cheering and clapping louder than before.

•

A/N
I didn't know what to do for this part, so I just improvised with them singing. The song is called Crazy=Genius from Panic! At the Disco. I'm not sure if I should write more or leave it at this but there you go 👍✨