Handyman {A Dream x Reader}

001

(just for context, this takes place in florida where dream lives. dream will be called dream around his friends, when they're recording, or when they're streaming/on someone's stream. he will be called clay when there's nothing like that going on, some small mentions of the word dream might be brought up. reader has an all white cat named octo)

TW- slight language

it was a normal sunny day, at least for (y/n). business was slow like usual, the normal customers coming in around the times they usually did. their boss chatting with them like normal, even bringing breakfast in for the two of them. normal. that's how things were in the small hardware shop.

for clay? not so much. you see, he had just gotten done filming a video where he had worn a certain shock collar. every time he took damage in minecraft he was shocked in real life. this... might've ended up in him kicking a leg of his desk, completely breaking it off. his friends haven't stopped giving him shit for it since.
of course this meant he needed something to repair it rather than going and buying a whole new desk. so a quick trip to the hardware shop never hurt anybody, right?

normal quickly changed for (y/n) that morning when a tall blonde haired man walked in. he had on a lime green hoodie with just a simple smile on it, the green matching the color of his eyes. the hoodie, something (y/n) noticed that they had one of the same on under their work apron but in white. it was getting chilly in florida, something that usually didn't happen often.
the man seemed confused at what he was looking for, quickly relieved of his confused look as (y/n) approached him. "can i help you with anything?" they asked softly, as if to not scare the man who had his back to them. he jumped slightly anyways, standing fully to look down at them. he noticed their hoodie and got slightly nervous, assuming he had run into a fan. "i actually have no clue what i'm looking for," he started, scratching the side of his head. "you see, i had an accident where i might've kicked the whole leg of my desk off.."
this caused a laugh from (y/n) who slightly doubled over. how could one completely kick a whole desk leg off? clay found himself blushing slightly at the adorable laugh, starting to chuckle himself. "okay, handyman, is the leg clean off?" they said after the laughter died down. "i mean yeah, i think so. the nail and all fell off, i'd just like something to make it more sturdy." he explained, glancing back at the row of nails he was looking at.
"if you're looking for it to be sturdier you're going to want desk supports as well." they commented, picking up a pack of nails. "these are the best we have in stock right now, super heavy duty." the nails were handed to the man and he inspected them, giving his nod of approval. "where can i find the supports?" clay asked, following them as they lead him to another isle. "how wide are your desk legs?" they asked, eyeing the supports. he pointed out one that seemed to be about the width, which lead to them grabbing a different support. "this one's the sturdiest," they explained, handing it to him.

after helping him grab a few more things he would need they headed up to the register, helping him checkout. "hey, nice hoodie by the way." they commented, grinning and showing their hoodie as well. this caused the man to gulp, nervously smiling at them. "haha, yeah..." he trailed off, swiping his card. they read the name that went through the transaction, grinning. it said clay. "don't worry, mr. clay," they said with a teasing voice. "it's my friends hoodie, i liked the smile and they gave it to me as a gift." they explained, handing him a receipt with the same grin. "your secret is safe with me, green boy."

he sighed with visible relief, hearing the explanation that they weren't a diehard fan of his. "thank you... (y/n)," he said, reading off their cheesy 'hello, i'm the super handy: (y/n)' name tag. "the help is really appreciated." he finished, matching their grin. "of course, have a good day." they replied, waving as he walked out of the door. the bell wasn't the only thing that rang when he left the store, the store phone quickly reminding (y/n) that they still had a job to do. their heart pounded anxiously as they answered the phone call, quite unsure of what they were feeling after meeting the green man.
of course clay felt the same way as he pulled off out of his parking spot, all the way into that night of fixing his desk. his friends noticed that he was a bit off and not as chatty as he sorted through his thoughts. "something wrong, dream?" darryl, also known as badboyhalo, asked what the rest of them were worrying. "i met someone today," is all clay replied, focusing on screwing in one nail on his broken desk leg. "dreamie has a girlfriend?" nick, also known as sapnap, teased. "he's cheating on me," george, (georgenotfound), fake cried. "quiet you muffinheads!" darryl shouted at his friends, concerned for dream. yet, even with all of the teasing clay had no reply. all he could think about was them.
they had his merch on, he wasn't stupid; they had to have known who he was. you don't find the man who is described to be exactly him, named clay in florida and just assume it's someone else. yet, they treated him like just another customer. their laugh was also really adorable, something that clay could hear over and over in his head. he decided that he wanted to hear it more.

the same could be said about (y/n) as they were closing up shop for the night. their boss, thomas, was chatting to them like almost every close, talking about his wife and kids. yet for some reason it just went in one ear and out the other. they knew who clay, dream, was; their friend was a huge fan of him. she went on and on about the green man to (y/n), so much that even they had started watching some of their videos. it wasn't the idea that he would be good looking or the amount money he had that made (y/n) slowly fall in love with watching his videos. it was the tea kettle laugh, the pure sweetness and care shown to his friends and fans. but their watching of his videos slowly died down when they started working full time at the hardware shop.
so this new interaction with the man who... could possibly be and is the youtuber they slowly fell in love with was a total shock. they had no idea how to react, quite literally no thoughts head empty. "(y/n)? is something wrong?" thomas asked, noticing his favorite worker wasn't responding to the question they asked. "hm? oh, it's nothing i'm sorry. just wondering if my cat misses me," they played it off with a chuckle, putting their apron up on the hooks in the back. then they proceeded to clock out, making some side chat with their boss on the way to their cars. "have a good night now, (y/n). drive safe and give your cat a treat for me." thomas said before rolling up his window and peeling out of the parking lot.
(y/n) nodded and followed suit, turning the way to get back to their house. the drive wasn't long and soon (y/n) found themselves back at their small one story house. after pulling into the driveway and locking their car they headed inside, calling out for their cat. "heeere octo!" they called out, the white cat quickly running up to them and rubbing against their legs. they made a quick stop to give their cat octo some food and water, petting them softly behind the ears before going to go take a shower.

even in the shower their thoughts were plagued by the man they had met earlier today, thinking back on his captivating green green eyes. (y/n) scoffed as they walked out of the bathroom, now dried off and fully dressed. even if they had decided just from the simple interaction they had with him that they wanted to be friends, the chance of meeting clay again was slim to none. they shook their head as if to clear their thoughts, heading to their bedroom after picking up their meowing cat. after scrolling through some social media (y/n) found their eyes slowly dropping. they plugged in their phone next to the bed, getting comfortable with octo laying next to them.

clay found himself thinking about the exact same things as he laid in bed that night, deciding against recording or streaming to take a break from repairing his desk. he had decided earlier that day he'd edit the shock collar video tomorrow.
he only had such a short interaction with the hardware shop worker, the possible fan. yet he found himself wanting more. maybe it was just his emotions being out of wack from being upset about the desk. maybe they reminded him of someone. or maybe, just maybe, it was their adorable laugh, those (e/c) eyes, the way they looked up at clay patiently waiting to hear what he needed.
another thing clay decided after looking at his wall behind the desk. maybe he needed to repaint his gaming room. the paint had completely chipped off in a large chunk as the desk collided with it. he'd just have to make another trip to that same hardware shop tomorrow...

1659 words, proofread