Chapter Text
Derek knew something is wrong when he woke up, a weird dream with too many details for him to shake it off completely, and the repeating of a name he knows no one in his personal life has. Avery. A strange name for a strange character to continuously follow him around in his dream.
Truth be told, Derek always had a strange relationship with dreams. It was like they’d tell him things he wasn’t supposed to know, secrets unfolded within his dreams of people he really had no business knowing their secrets of. On the other hand, it gave him a better understanding of the universe, too. Complex things in his dreams were explained to him with such simplicity that, when faced with it in the real world, he had no trouble deciphering them.
Puzzles, questions, and equations; all answers came easily to Derek. So he wasn’t sure why the continues character of Avery in his dreams was such a hard thing to unravel, it was probably another NPC of his dreams. Someone he’d have a fleeting moment of in real life, a name mentioned in a passing conversation and a story his brain created to pull more information out of the person.
He couldn’t quite shake off how realistic the dream was, even though he knew he was playing Minecraft, he felt like he was really in it. As if he were transported in the game that he dreamt… Maybe that’s just a sign for him to not play it before he goes to bed, though.
He pushed himself out of bed, opening the curtains to show the moon dancing in between the clouds. The night wasn’t as clear as the weather forecast said it would be, but he suspected as much. He sighed to himself, though, that cigarette during his break just tastes better while he looks up at a clear night sky.
He grabbed his uniform out of his closet, a shirt with the name of the gas station he works at printed on the chest pocket. He hated his job, but it’s the best thing he could get at the moment as someone who just graduated college. The night hours were nice, too; it was calm, most of the time he was just playing games on his phone and not being bothered by costumers all too much.
When he checked into work, his coworker greeted him before heading off and he was off to just… fucking around for a couple of hours until the sun came up again. Midnight to 8AM was doable for him, and one of the perks of the job was being allowed to consume up to two energy drinks. Really, for someone in his twenties, he was probably living the dream for someone in their late-teens. He should count all the wins he can get at this point.
Two hours into his shift, and nothing had really happened. Playing games on his phone was boring him after 30 minutes, and he was unable to think about anything other than the dream he had before so he just wasn’t feeling it at all.
“Avery…” he muttered under his breath. “Don’t even think I’ve met an Avery before, why would my brain be so fixated on that name.” He sighed as his eyes glazed the shop, the isles were already cleaned up and stocked by his colleague so there was not much miscellaneous work he could do tonight. “I’m going to bore myself to death.”
Just as he was about to put his head on the counter, the doorbell rang from the front door. His eyes looked at the stranger, and a pang of familiarity shot through him when their eyes met. The stranger was soaked, drenched in water and shaking like a leaf. But there was no car at the pumps, nothing to suggest he drove himself all the way here.
“Do you sell clothes?” He asked Derek, in between snivels and the sound of his teeth clattering because of the cold. “Like, I could really use a dry shirt.” His arms were wrapped around himself, trying to keep warm.
“Oh yeah, fuck, hold on.” Derek stood up from his seat. They didn’t sell clothes, it was a gas station, but he always had a spare shirt and a towel with him in case something happened. He didn’t hesitate to give it to the stranger, though. “I usually have these with me for emergencies, but you seem to need it more than I do.”
The stranger snorted, not to make fun of him, but more so that he was confused that he’d actually have these items with him. “What type of emergencies do you need a clean shirt and a towel for at a gas station?” He asked jokingly.
“There was a slushy incident once,” Answered Derek. “I had to clean the machine and the thing you pull on to get it out broke, got drenched with it and then had to finish four more hours of my shift in a sticky slushy shirt. I do not want to repeat that again.”
The stranger just blinked at him, staring in disbelief before starting to laugh. He gripped the edges of his shirt and, wait, was he going to change right here in the store? Derek couldn’t say anything before he was distracted by — God he feels like a pervert. He quickly looks away from the stranger as he strips his wet shirt off.
Derek would be lying to himself if he didn’t think the stranger was at least a little attractive. Truth be told, he wanted to steal glances as he was changing, but looked on the window that showed the reflection instead, and then at the floor. Fuck. He was exactly Derek’s type.
“Do you have somewhere I can hang this?” That snapped him out of his thoughts. He looked over at the man, who was holding his shirt. “It’s probably not going to dry any time soon… and my phone is dead too…” He was mumbling to himself, but Derek still heard every word.
“I’ll hang it up on the radiator in the back somewhere, if you don’t mind, and…” He was doing too much, he didn’t even know this guy’s name. “What charger do you need for your phone?” Fuck it, this is the most normal interaction he’s had at this job that lasted for more than a couple of minutes. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was feeling lonely. Not that he had anyone to admit it to, but that’s beside the point.
“You’re a life saver.” He handed over his shirt to Derek. “I’m Avery, by the way.” Derek hesitates reaching for the shirt for a split second, it’s that name again. The name that’s been following him for ages.
“Derek.” He answers back, grabbing the shirt. “Just don’t steal anything while I’m in the back, and I’ll give you a charger.” He pointed at the camera with a sign under it, stating a fine price for shoplifting. It wasn’t meant to be serious, and Avery chuckled.
“I doubt I’ll steal anything and run off into the night while it’s storming. Don’t worry.” The smile he gave Derek was reassuring. Almost familiar. Which is… odd to say, the only time he ever interacted with “Avery” from his dreams was when he was playing Minecraft, and you can’t really see someone’s expression through that.
Derek gave him a quick nod before turning to the back, hanging the shirt up and grabbing his charger. When he came back, Avery was looking at the snack isle and then back at his wallet. Derek cleared his throat, which caught Avery’s attention. That same smile painted his face, and Derek would lie if it didn’t somewhat melt something in him. “I have a USB-C charger,” He said. “I don’t know if that’s the one you need.” Something told him that that was exactly the one Avery needed, but he didn’t vocalise it. His ´sixth sense’ was weird enough, he didn’t need to tell people about it.
“Again,” Avery started when he walked over to the counter. “You’re a life saver, Derek.” A warmth that was unfamiliar to Derek spread across his chest. He liked the way that his name rolled off so easily from Avery’s tongue. All he did in return to the compliment was give a simple hum of acknowledgement.
Weirdly enough, feelings were the one puzzle he struggled with the most. He didn’t know what that feeling was, and even if he did, he didn’t know if he felt it because of how utterly starved for human connection he was, or if it was some fucked-up thing his brain was doing because of the dreams he had been experiencing. This is all just a big coincidence, he forced himself to think. To believe. But he also knew better than to think about life as coincidences.
“So…” He started, somewhat curious about this whole situation. “How did you end up here again?” He was really curious about that, the gas station was a little in the middle of nowhere, and cars hadn’t really passed in about… 30 minutes? Maybe longer. It was on a stretch of road connecting two cities to one another, but one of those roads no one really drives late at night except for if the highway was in horrendous traffic, which… judging by the state of the road, and seeing how late it was, it probably was not that either.
Avery laughed, almost bitterly. “Some of my asshole friends threw me out the car on the middle of the road.” It wasn’t lost on Derek, the way the word friends was said with such venom. Avery sighed before fishing his phone out of his pocket. “I get… pranked on a lot by them. Honestly doesn’t feel like great friends to have but…” He trailed off, not finishing the sentence but Derek knew that feeling all too well.
“Better than being alone?” His mouth moved faster than he could register, it was something shared between the two of them, a feeling that was familiar to him. “I get it.” Is all he added, trying to ease the mood a little.
Avery let out a dry laugh, something pent up was festering under it but Derek didn’t dare ask about it, he felt like his comment was already pushing the boundaries of a conversation strangers should have. “Yeah, something like that.” A silence fell over them, a little awkward, before Avery let out a little “oh!” and put the phone he had in his hand onto the counter.
“Which city do you live in?” Derek asked while plugging the phone in behind the counter. It was the only outlet in the store that wasn’t close to the floor, and Avery seemed to be okay with it. He noticed Avery stiffing up a little at the question. “I could drive you to your city after my shift.” He adds, which seems to put Avery at ease a little. “You would have to deal with me for another five hours before that, though.” He put his elbow on the counter, leaning forwards and leaning his chin on the palm of his hand. “So it’s all up to you.”
Did that come off as flirtatious? Derek didn’t think too much about it, if anything, he decided that he was going to have a little bit of fun while he can. And then he realised he was coming off as a pervert again. Averey’s phone was behind the counter, with him, so he had no way to reach anyone if he didn’t take Derek’s offer.
“I mean—”
“I’d like that.” Avery answered before Derek could backtrack. Derek’s eyes darted around Avery’s face for any sign of discomfort with this, but Avery’s smile was warm and gentle. “We have five hours anyway, so I have enough time to see if I’d really like to you join you. And if not, my phone would have charged enough for me to get an Uber or something like that.”
Derek was startled, that Avery would be this trusting of a stranger is weird… right? Or was it that Derek was too distrusting of strangers? Whatever it was, the startled look on his face was visitable to Avery, who chuckled a little at it.
“You look like I just told you the most terrible news in the world.” He put one of his hands on his hips, and tilted his head a little. “Are you backtracking on something you offered, Derek?” The tone in his voice was different than before, a twinge of something added that Derek couldn’t quite place. “I doubt you’d throw me out of your car in the middle of a storm, so I’ll take all the help I can get.”
A wink, and Derek wonders what he’d gotten himself into. But he doesn’t get flustered. He doesn’t backtrack. “Really?” He asks, his voice mirroring Avery’s. “And what if these next couple of hours are so nice that you wouldn’t want to go home?”
There was a pull to Avery, Derek couldn’t deny it. Maybe it was fate, or the equivalent he believed in when he thought about his weird dreams. Maybe he was being delusional and put too much trust into a dream that really meant nothing more and was purely coincidence. Whatever it was, he was craving it.
The comment he made was enough to fluster Avery a little, his head tilted a little further than before and there was a pinkish hue that spread across his cheeks. Before he could answer, though, the bell of the gas station rang and Derek stood up straight again. Someone else walked into the store, their car by the gas pumps.
Whatever they had going on just a couple of seconds ago was ruined, and Derek wasn’t quite sure on how to bring that moment back. He had five more hours to see if this was going anywhere, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little distracted, too.
He had a terrible headache.