*~{Wilted Roses}~* skephalo AU

Sparks

Zak awoke to the sound of his alarm going off.
His face immediately turned into a frown as he groaned and turned off the blaring alarm. He opened the blinds, the big bright sun barely coming over the horizon. He yawned and stretched his arms, looking in the mirror while doing so.

"Huh, I didn't think I stayed up that long for this to happen." He said as he inspected the dark circles and bags under his eyes.
"The boss won't be happy about how "unprofessional" I look." He rolled his eyes with annoyance. Zak reached for his white creased button up shirt and light blue tie. He put them on and changed out of his sweatpants into some suit pants.

"Alright how much time till I have to go to that hell hole." Zak spun his head to the alarm clock on his marron colored desk. The clock read '5:45'

"Hm, I have more than an hour and a half, nice." He smiled to himself. Zak ran to his bathroom mirror and tried to fix up his looks. His messy curly hair was pulled back with some hair gel and the dark circles where hidden under foundation.

"Lookin good, lookin good." He finger gunned his reflection and sped out the door with his brief case, some papers flying out onto the apartment floor in the process.

Zak hurriedly walked past the crowds of people in the city. He had quite a bright smile on his face as he walked.

"The air is fresh, and with the coming of autumn, this drab town is going to get a little bit more interesting." He smiled brighter. Fall was Zak's favorite time of year. The beautifully colored trees, the smell of fresh baked pumpkin pies and cinnamon filling the air, the clothing he'll get to wear maybe he'd find a lover by wearing approachable clothing he thought to himself, but to him the most important event of them all was the fall festival. Every year, his town would pull off this huge festival with games, rides, food stands and a talent show. People would come from all parts of the world to come see famous musicians play their hearts out, filling the surrounding area with such a calm and excited vibe.

"And this year is going to be my year." He smiled, taking a bite out of a muffin."I'm going to be the best I've ever been on that stage and knock the audience's socks off!" He spun in a chair that belonged to a small café owned by one of his former co-workers, Clay.

"So, that's your big plan huh?" Clay chuckled.

"Yeah! And.. Why're you laughing?" Zak said sheepishly.

"I just admire the sparks in your eyes whenever you talk about this festival." He smirked.

"Well yeah! How could I not when this is my whole dream, my whole purpose is this festival! Sure I've backed down many times and I have slowly had my self esteem ruined because of it BUT-! That's no reason for me not to try again.. right? Never give up or whatever?" He rubbed the back of his neck shyly as he heard the customers in the café snicker a little.

"So yeah that's my whole thing... Um.. I can count on your support right?" He smiled, and looked around nervously.

Clay smiled and let out a sigh. He walked out from behind the counter over to his shy friend and gave him a firm pat on the back followed by a hug. "I believe in you zak. You can always count on my support man!"

Zak smiled. "Thanks dude, that means a lot." Directly after he said that, his watch beeped. "Oh geez I have five minutes to get to work-!" He grabbed the muffin he was eating and put it in his mouth, preparing to dash out the door. "Cya later Clay! And thanks for the support!"

Clay smiled and yelled after him "No problem Zak!"

Zak was running, and I mean RUNNING past every civilian at top speed. "I can't be late or boss is going to kill me-" he briefly closed his eyes and shook his head only to open his eyes and realize that he was about to crash into a baby stroller.

"AAAAAGH GOTTA TURN-" He closed his eyes once again and took a sharp turn, dropping a stand with many papers and falling into a soft bush.
"Wait, soft bush? But I'm running to work on a side walk how could i-" Zak then heard a loud gasp and was prepared to get scolded. He jumped out of the bushes with multiple leaves in his hair and prepared to do the adulting thing he hated most: facing the consequences of his actions. He got down to the floor and apologized "I'm extremely sorry for ruining your bush and Knocking your papers everywhere. I didn't want to be such an inconvenience but I had no choice I was about to r-"

"Are you hurt?" A soft voice interrupted him.

"Huh?"

"I said are you hurt? I really hope we didn't cause you damage in any way sir. I think a certain muffin head here put the flyers too close to the sidewalk."

Zak looked up to see a dark brown haired boy with Rosie cheeks and glasses glaring at a teenage boy with dark, slightly curly hair and green eyes.

"I'm really sorry Dar I got distracted!" The curly haired boy said with a frown on his face. The boy with glasses sighed

"It's okay Toby, it's only your third week working here so I get it." He smiled, the boy with glasses looked back at Zak and pulled him up.

"I'm really sorry about that sir." He patted the dirt off Zak.

"Hey, it's totally fine." Zak smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, suddenly he heard a loud beeping, his heart dropped. "Oh Shit."

He smiled nervously and got ready to dash "I'm sorry but I have to go right now I'll catch you later!" And with that, he was gone.