egobang oneshots // arin + dan au

insomniac - 2,737

Dan was laying on his bed. He tossed a red bouncy ball up into the air, and caught it on the way down.

What time was it?

It was almost 2 A.M. His room was completely dark. His entire apartment was completely dark, he noticed upon looking out his bedroom door.

Had he remembered to pay the light bill?

He could only see the bathroom from his bedroom door. From what he could see where he was, there was no light in the apartment, but then again, why would he sleep with the lights on?

Why would he sleep?

Dan had been awake for God knows how many hours. He stopped counting the hours years ago, after realizing it only caused anticipation. He would wait for the next hour to come, and would find himself days into no sleep simply because he was waiting for another hour to pass.

"Why can't I sleep?"

Dan whispered the words so quietly, as if fearing he'd wake someone up. There was no one around to wake up. There was no one asleep in his small apartment, seeing as he is the only one who lives in his apartment, and he is not sleeping.

He continued to toss the red ball up into the air, a continuous cycle which at this point felt so natural. He wondered what life would be like outside of tossing the red ball, and catching it. And tossing it, and catching it.

What will life be without tossing the red ball?

His comforter was on the ground, and had been for many weeks. He didn't find time to make the bed. He never slept in it anyways. Clothes were piled on the ground. There was no telling what was clean or what was dirty. If it smelled alright, he put it on.

Dan contemplated what he wanted to do next with his life. He could only toss this ball for so long.

The ball dropped to his side.

He got up out of bed suddenly. Too suddenly, he determined, as white spots filled the corners of his vision. His room was still pitch black even after the spots faded, and he didn't know why he was expecting any other result. He walked out of his room, down the hall, and to the living area. Dan had no clue what he was doing, but found himself slipping on his shoes, and walking out the door. His body was always one step ahead of his mind.

The air was a bit chilly, but Dan had on an army-colored jacket to bare the wind. His ripped jeans, on the other hand, may have been a mistake. His lanky legs barely work as is, but function even worse when cold. But, the breeze did not stop him from walking. Dan felt like he was on a mission, but he was just following whatever his legs decided to do.

After 30 minutes of walking or so, Dan had wound up down a dirt road. He looked ahead and noticed what appeared to be a store. He continued up the road, until he got to the building, and sure enough, it was a worn-down convenience store. The street lamp illuminating the front was flickering slightly. The asphalt in the area was rocky and showed signs of needing replacement. A neon sign reading "Late Night" was plastered on top of the building. A smaller sign below it read "24 Hours," but the bulbs appeared to be burnt out.

"Late Night?" Dan mumbled to himself. "Why would it be called 'Late Night' if it is a 24-hour store? Why not call it 24-Hour or something?"

Dan wandered up to the doors, and hesitated before entering. As the doors opened, a flat-sounding bell rang throughout the entire store.

Arin was half asleep in a folding web chair behind the counter. He has sat in this chair a lot, as his butt sank through the webbing on the bottom of the seat. The bell rang throughout the entire store, the sound of it sending alarmed chills down his entire body. He jolted up, and saw that it wasn't a murderer out to get him.